⁍ The all-stock deal values Noble Energy at around $4.2 billion, excluding $8 billion in debt.

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⁍ The addition of Noble will boost Chevron’s U.S. shale oil holdings, making it the No. 2 producer behind EOG Resources.

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⁍ It also adds nearly 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves close to growing markets.

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– Chevron has agreed to buy Noble Energy in an all-stock deal worth $4.2 billion, making it the second-biggest US shale oil producer and adding nearly 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, Reuters reports. The deal, announced in July, is expected to be finalized early this quarter. Noble’s Leviathan offshore gas field in Israeli waters is one of the world’s biggest offshore gas discoveries of the last decade. The deal has become even cheaper for Chevron since it was announced in July with a value of $5 billion, as shares of both companies have traded down alongside oil. Activist investor Elliott Management Corp, which took an undisclosed stake in Noble but never came out publicly against the deal, declined to say how it voted its shares or whether it has sold or kept its stake. The addition of Noble will boost Chevron’s US shale oil holdings, making it the No. 2 producer behind EOG Resources. It also adds nearly 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves close to growing markets. Noble’s Leviathan in Israeli waters, one of the world’s biggest offshore gas discoveries of the last decade, began pumping gas from the field late last year. The deal has become even cheaper for Chevron since it was announced in July with a value of $5 billion, as shares of both companies have traded down alongside oil. Activist investor Elliott Management Corp, which took an undisclosed stake in Noble but never came out publicly against the deal, declined to say how it voted its shares or whether it has sold or kept its stake.