(Bloomberg) — ConocoPhillips is in advanced talks to acquire smaller rival Marathon Oil Corp. to take over, which would expand the oil industry’s string of major deals, the Financial Times reported.
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The all-equity proposal would value the target slightly higher than its market capitalization of around $15 billion, the FT said, which did not cite the sources.
Marathon Oil and ConocoPhillips did not respond to Bloomberg News requests for comment outside normal business hours.
Read more: US oil deal in full swing as Chevron agrees to take over Hess
Adding Marathon would give ConocoPhillips control of assets in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and the Permian Basin. The target also has interests in operations in Equatorial Guinea.
U.S. oil and natural gas producers have created a wave of recent megadeals. They are trying to secure drilling sites in the expectation that the fuels will remain central to the world’s energy mix for decades.
ConocoPhillips has already expanded into the Permian Basin in recent years through a $13 billion acquisition of Concho Resources and a $9.5 billion purchase of Shell Plc’s assets in the region.
Devon Energy Corp. previously held discussions with Marathon last year about a possible combination, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News at the time.
(Updates to add details)
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