Marathon Petroleum’s oil refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
David Ryder | Reuters
Energy heavyweights Chevron and Exxon Mobil announced shiny new acquisitions this month — and some industry watchers say it could be the start of more multibillion megadeals to come.
The announcement comes just weeks after Exxon Mobil announced its purchase of shale rival Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion in an all-stock deal. While this marks Exxon’s largest deal since its acquisition of Mobil, the merger would also double the oil giant’s production volume in the largest U.S. oilfield, the Permian Basin.
“The big-money acquisition of Hess by Chevron accelerates the trend of consolidation and big-money deals,” energy consultancy Rystad Energy said in a note.
Although Chevron’s acquisition is the continuation of a story started by the Exxon-Pioneer deal, its motivation and impact is slightly different, the note stated.
Exxon is zoning in on its core operations in the Permian basin, while Chevron has decided to expand into where it does not yet have existing assets: Guyana and the Bakken shale.
These megadeals are just a prelude to this large investment wave I expect in coming years.
Bob McNally
President of Rapidan Energy Group
Kpler’s economist Reid I’Anson said the Exxon-Pioneer deal is “likely a bit less risky” compared to the Chevron-Hess deal.
Exxon will see more immediate returns and Pioneer alone would add 711,000 barrels per day, he said comparing it to just 386,000 barrels per day from Hess.
“However, the Chevron acquisition likely has more upside given the future production growth potential out of Guyana,” he noted.
That said, both Exxon and Chevron’s megadeals are indicative of a larger, overarching ambition.
Consolidation has been a focus in the North American shale space in the past year, especially in the Permian basin where larger exploration and production (E&Ps) have “swallowed up” smaller operations in the bid to bolster drilling inventories and boost free cash flow, Rystad’s senior shale analyst Matthew Bernstein told CNBC.
Silhouette of Permian Basin pumpjacks taken at dusk, north of Midland, Texas, U.S. in late 2019.
Richard Eden | via Getty Images
The upstream segment of the oil and gas industry refers to the exploration for oil or gas deposits, as well as extraction and production of those materials.
The Permian basin is a shale patch that sits between Texas and Mexico, which saw a slew of deals this year.
“These megadeals are just a prelude to this large investment wave I expect in coming years,” Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNBC via email. With Exxon deepening its presence in the U.S. shale sector, and Chevron’s eyes on Guyana, the two deals will instill more confidence in the wider oil industry to overcome any hesitation and invest in oil and gas, McNally continued.
“These deals signify the shift from a multi-year bust phase in oil that began in 2014 to a multi-year boom phase that should last well through this decade,” he forecasts.
No peak demand for oil just yet?
The deals by the two largest publicly traded major oil companies appear to confirm that crude oil demand will remain strong over the long term, said Andrew Woods, Mintec’s industrial analyst.
Dan Pickering, founder of Pickering Energy Partners, echoed similar sentiments, saying that both energy behemoths believe oil demand has not yet peaked.
On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency reported that demand for oil, coal and natural gas is set to peak before the end of the decade, on the back of rising clean energy technologies.
Oil prices year-to-date
A peak in oil demand refers to the point in time when the highest level of global crude demand is reached, in which a permanent decline would then follow. This would theoretically decrease the need for investments in crude oil projects as other energy sources take precedence.
“We are clearly entering into a period of consolidation,” Pickering said, adding it is not just megadeals that the oil industry will be seeing, but also many “merger-of-equals” amongst small or mid-sized companies with market capitalizations between $3 billion to $30 billion.
Pickering said investors currently do not want volume growth, but prefer capital discipline — a shift from focusing on production volume to a focus on financial value.
“Instead of drilling to grow production or cash flow, companies are now combining to gain scale, lower costs and grow earnings and cash flow without meaningful incremental volumes,” he said.
The sun has set on a frantic day of scrutineering at this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), as teams scramble to qualify for a spot on the starting line tomorrow morning. Electrek FSGP 2025 is shaping up to be one of the event’s most attended ever, thanks to a strong showing of first-time and returning schools. But that also means new and unproven vehicles on the track.
Today, I walked through a couple of bays and talked with a few of the teams able to spare a minute; almost all of them were debuting completely new cars that were years in the making. Building a solar car is no easy feat. It’s not just the engineering and technical know-how that’s often a hurdle for them; it’s more often monetary. However, one of the things that makes this event so special is the camaraderie and collaboration that happen behind the scenes.
Northwestern University is back with a completely new car this season, its eighth since the team’s original inception in 1997 during the GM Sunrayce days. Its motor controller, which is responsible for managing the flow of power from the batteries to the motor, was given to them by the Stanford team. Stanford had extras and could spare one for Northwestern, which needed a replacement. It doesn’t stop there. Two members of the Northwestern team (Shannon and Fiona) told me four other teams helped them with a serious tire replacement around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, saving them from missing important parts of scrutineering.
This is also an exciting year for the West Virginia team, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary as a solar car team, making them one of the oldest teams on the track. With age comes wisdom though: WV is competing again this year with its single-occupant vehicle, Sunseeker. The team ran into issues after last year’s American Solar Challenge (ASC) cross-country event when the vehicle’s control arm, an important part of the suspension that connects the wheels to the chassis, broke. They tell me this year they’re back with a completely redesigned control arm made of both aluminum and steel. Thank you, Hayley, John, and Izzy, for taking the time to talk.
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We’re also seeing new builds this year from the University of Florida, the University of Puerto Rico, NC State, and UC Irvine. Believe it or not, the latter team has never competed in an American Solar Challenge/Formula Sun Grand Prix. This is their first year. UC Irvine doesn’t expect to be on the starting line tomorrow but hopes to be on the track soon after.
University of Puerto RicoUniversity of California Irvine
On the other hand, we have tried-and-proven cars like my personal favorite, Polytechnique Montréal’s Esteban, which undergoes minor improvements each year. I talked a little bit with this team today, and they told me the car’s motor was dropped, disassembled, and cleaned in preparation for the event. Polytechnique Montréal has passed scrutineering and will appear on the starting line tomorrow.
Polytechnique Montréal
Teams that haven’t wrapped up scrutineering in the last three days can still complete it, though doing so will eat into time on track.
You can learn more about the different classes and the specific rules here.
I’ll continue to post more updates as the event continues!
2025 Electrek FSGP schedule
The 2025 Electrek FSGP will again be held at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which, interestingly enough, General Motors occasionally uses for Corvette testing and development. A bit of a full-circle moment being so close to the company that started it all.
The event is open to the public and FREE to attend. Come see the solar car race up close!
Racing starts on July 3 from 10am to 6pm CT and continues through July 5 from 9am to 5pm CT.
Featured image via Cora Kennedy for Electrek FSGP/ASC.
Note: The Formula Sun Grand Prix is not in any way associated or affiliated with the Formula 1 companies, FORMULA 1 racing, or the FIA Formula One World Championship.
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Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
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Got news? Let us know! Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Read more CNBC tech news
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.