Royal Dutch Shell is selling its assets in the prolific Permian Basin shale oil-and-gas basin in Texas to ConocoPhillips for $9.5 billion.
Why it matters: Monday's announcement latest of several big deals in the U.S. oil sector that are bringing consolidation to the shale sector.
It also comes as European giants like BP and Shell are looking to speed movement into lower-carbon business lines, though oil and gas remain their main investments.
Shell has said its oil production likely peaked in 2019 and will slowly decline annually as it diversifies.
What they're saying: Wael Sawan, Shell's upstream director, said the deal "reflects our focus on value over volumes as well as disciplined stewardship of capital."
The company said that $7 billion of the proceeds will be returned to shareholders, with the rest used to strengthen its balance sheet.
By the numbers: The Shell-ConocoPhillips deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, involves 225,000 acres in Texas, which according to Shell currently produce roughly 175,000 thousand barrels of oil-equivalent per day.
The big picture: The deal is the second large shale acquisition for U.S.-based ConocoPhillips in recent years that together significantly expand its shale output.
ConocoPhillips bought Concho Resources, a large independent player, in an all-stock deal announced in October that closed early this year.
Other deals include Chevron's acquisition last year of the big independent Noble Energy announced in July (which also provided Chevron with new gas assets in the Mediterranean Sea).