Chevron has completed its $53 billion acquisition of Hess, after prevailing against Exxon Mobil in a legal dispute over offshore oil assets in the South American nation of Guyana.
The ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce is a huge win for Chevron, which had sought to buy Hess to gain access to the vast Guyana oil reserves.
Chevron shares were more than 1% lower during Friday’s session after rising more than 2% in the premarket on the announcement. Exxon stock, meanwhile, fell more than 3%.
“We disagree with the ICC panel’s interpretation but respect the arbitration and dispute resolution process,” Exxon said in a statement Friday.
The dispute had created significant uncertainty over whether Chevron’s acquisition of Hess would close, weighing on Chevron’s stock performance. The transaction would have failed if Exxon had prevailed.
Exxon and China National Offshore Oil Corp. had filed an arbitration case with the ICC, claiming a right of first refusal over Hess’ assets in the Stabroek Block, an oil development off the coast of Guyana.
Hess has a 30% stake in the oil patch, while Exxon leads the project with 45% and CNOOC maintains 25%.
“We welcome Chevron to the venture and look forward to continued industry-leading performance and value creation in Guyana for all parties involved,” Exxon said.
“We’ll integrate the two companies. As is typical in a deal like this, there are some overlaps, and so you’ll see some reductions,” Wirth said. “But our industry is like many others where you have to continually look to be efficient, and technology evolves. It’s a competitive world out there.”