Exxon’s Shale Deal Doesn’t Need Antitrust Scrutiny: Liam Denning

A White House with a taste for trust-busting and an antipathy to fossil fuels must now weigh the second-largest US oil acquisition ever. The administration should wave it though and move on.

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $64.5 billion deal for Pioneer Natural Resources Co., announced Wednesday, will create the biggest operator by far in the Permian basin, the heart of America’s shale boom. Planned joint production of about 2 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2027 means Exxon’s Permian output alone would rival the entire current production of BP Plc. This deal creates a new US major within Exxon, ...