ConocoPhillips announced that it will acquire Marathon Oil Corporation in an all-stock transaction valued at $22.5 billion, which includes $5.4 billion of net debt. 

“This acquisition of Marathon Oil further deepens our portfolio and fits within our financial framework, adding high-quality, low cost of supply inventory adjacent to our leading U.S. unconventional position,” said Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer, said in a joint statement. 

According to the statement, ConocoPhillips will save $500 million in the year after the deal is complete as a result of reduced administrative and production costs. 

According to energy analyst David Blackmon, Conoco and Phillips Petroleum merged in 2012 to become ConocoPhillips. The merger with Marathon brings together three former majors into a single company that’s largely focused on the Eagle Ford Shale area of South Texas and the Bakken in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. 

Oil and gas mergers totaled approximately $250 billion in 2023, according to Reuters, and the wave of mergers and acquisitions has continued into 2024. The activity suggests that oil companies, contrary to estimates of peaking oil demand, are expecting demand to continue well into the future.