California Resources

These are challenging times in the oil patch. Crude oil prices continue to sag. E&Ps are trimming their capex, share buybacks, and staff. Some worry that production may be peaking. And yet, upstream M&A activity continues unabated as producers seek to gain scale, expand into new plays — or double down on old ones — and replenish their inventory of top-tier well sites. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss four of the biggest deals announced in the past few weeks.

The drivers behind most upstream M&A the past couple of years have been consistent — namely, to gain scale (mostly in the Permian) and the economies that come with it, boost free cash flow (and share more with shareholders), and replenish reserves to keep the good times rollin' into the 2030s. There are hints of all that in California Resources’ recently announced $2.1 billion agreement to acquire Aera Energy, creating what would be California’s largest crude oil producer. But in other ways the deal is as different as, well, California and Texas themselves. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the planned acquisition, what it reveals about the companies, and the pros and cons of operating in the nation’s most populous, least-friendly-to-hydrocarbons state.