California Oil Merger Set to Benefit From Permitting Boom (1)

California Resources Corporation, which is set to take over rival oil driller Berry Corp, stands to benefit from state legislation that would make it easier to drill.

California Resources announced a $717 million all-stock deal Monday to buy Berry, days after California legislators passed state bill 237, which will allow oil-producing Kern County to issue as many as 2,000 new permits per year. The bill marks a sharp shift from years of regulatory scrutiny by the state’s lawmakers toward its oil and gas industry and decades of declining in-state crude production.

“It’s really a truly significant change,” California ...