Chevron Buys Into One of World’s Hottest Oil Projects

Chevron sealed its takeover of a smaller rival, Hess, after prevailing over Exxon Mobil in a high-stakes legal dispute on Friday. The deal gave Chevron a stake in one of the world’s most valuable oil developments.

The arbitration ruling by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce on Friday cleared the way for Chevron to close its acquisition of Hess for $53 billion. It was a major win for America’s second-largest oil company, which is based in Houston and had been waiting nearly two years to close this deal amid growing investor concerns about the company’s future.

In Hess, Chevron acquired a piece of a lucrative oil project off the shores of Guyana, in South America. It also gained an array of other assets, from North Dakota to Southeast Asia, that would extend the company’s runway of drilling opportunities and give it the ability to better compete with the likes of Exxon, its larger U.S. rival.

“The combination enhances and extends our growth profile well into the next decade, which we believe will drive greater long-term value to shareholders,” Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Exxon and Chevron have been fighting over Hess’s stake in Guyana for more than a year, at great cost to Chevron. The battle left the smaller oil major in limbo, unable to close its deal for Hess — and also unable to move on.

Chevron’s stock price had suffered, falling around 9 percent from when the company announced the Hess deal in October 2023 through Thursday. For Exxon, whose share price rose less than 1 percent in that time, there was comparatively little to lose.