APA’s $2.6 Billion Callon Deal Signals Heightened Shale Focus

APA Corp. agreed to acquire Permian Basin shale explorer Callon Petroleum Co. for $2.6 billion, the latest in a wave of deals reshaping the US oil landscape.

APA plans to retire Callon’s roughly $1.9 billion in debt, giving the deal an enterprise value of $4.5 billion.

The deal comes almost three years after the driller formerly known as Apache Corp. wrote down its huge Alpine High discovery in the US Permian region and vowed to focus exploration spending on overseas prospects in South America and North Africa.

The acquisition of Callon’s shale assets may be intended to shore up APA’s ...