Shale oil deals are defying the M&A slump

• The primary seller is Lime Rock Partners, one of several private equity firms now cashing in on prescient acreage bets from more than a decade ago.
• It's also expected to spark additional M&A, as Oxy likely will divest other assets to finance the purchase.

The big picture: The Permian Basin alone has been the focus of more than two dozen deals so far in 2023, representing a record $100 billion+ in value.

• And that doesn't even include other shale-focused deals like Chevron paying $7.6 billion for PDC Energy.

Behind the scenes: This is literally a land grab.

• Big Oil is rushing to secure a limited supply of high-quality acreage, much of which already has existing infrastructure.
• Or, as Wood Mackenzie analyst Rob Clarke puts it: "Scarcity drives action."

Zoom out: It's also what Axios' Ben Geman calls a "both/and" approach, as companies like Oxy have spent big money in climate tech areas like carbon dioxide removal.

The bottom line: The Permian Basin may not host another $100 billion of deals next year, but there's plenty more shale M&A to come.