Both US supermajors, ExxonMobil and Chevron, have put expansion of their US shale output front and center of their global growth plans: Exxon via its $59.5bn purchase of Pioneer Resources announced 11 October (MEES, 13 October), and Chevron via the $53bn 23 October purchase of fellow US firm Hess. This comes as overall US output tops 13mn b/d for the first time with that from the Permian approaching 6mn b/d (MEES, 3 November).
Pioneer is a Permian pureplay producer, whose 721,000 boe/d of Q3 output put it around 100,000 boe/d ahead of Exxon as the basin’s number three producer – indeed Pioneer had been tied with Chevron for number one spot for 2021, before a spending surge from Chevron and fellow major ConocoPhillips saw them pull ahead (see chart). (CONTINUED - 1060 WORDS)
