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Energy trader Vitol on Friday said its U.S. upstream company, Vencer Energy LLC, will acquire Hunt Oil Co's Midland Basin assets for an undisclosed sum.
Dealmaking in the U.S. shale industry has jumped in 2021 as large companies unload assets in response to investor anger over years of weak shareholder returns. Vitol is the world's biggest independent oil trader, but this is its first upstream asset in the United States and in shale, which transformed the nation into one of the biggest global oil producers. read more
The Swiss trader is already a major buyer of U.S. oil and set up Vencer last year to take advantage of potentially cheap assets. Shale bankruptcies began to mount after oil prices crashed last year when COVID-19 lockdowns crippled fuel demand.