Exxon’s $60 Billion Fight With Chevron Will Reshape Big Oil
The rights to an offshore field containing 11 billion barrels of oil are at stake in an arbitration dispute.
Eyes on the prize.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergThe prize is called Stabroek — a series of oil fields off the coast of Guyana, the Latin American nation bordering Venezuela and Brazil. The potential riches are incredible — about 11 billion barrels of oil, worth nearly $1 trillion at current prices. And Stabroek is now at the center of a legal battle that hinges on the meaning of a few words contained in a secret document, probably about 100 pages long. The outcome will reshape Big Oil.
ExxonMobil Corp. owns a large chunk of Stabroek, having been part of the consortium that found oil there in 2015. Chevron Corp. is now trying to muscle in, after announcing a deal in October to buy Hess Corp. in an all-stock transaction worth $60 billion, including debt. Hess is a partner in Stabroek, owning 30% of the block. Exxon is the operator, controlling 45%, and Chinese state-owned giant CNOOC Ltd. owns the remaining 25%.