ConocoPhillips' Houston office
ConocoPhillips captures Shell’s Permian portfolio
Houston-based firm swoops in to take the European major’s entire Delaware footprint and bolster its position in the basin
US ‘superindie’ ConocoPhillips is consolidating its position in the Lower 48’s most important shale play. The company’s decision to fork out $9.5bn on Shell’s entire Permian assets is the largest all-cash US upstream deal in over three years and comes just shy of a year since its absorption of Permian pure-play independent Concho Resources in a deal worth $13.3bn. Shell may have been slapped on the wrist by a Dutch court in May and ordered to cut its emissions by 45pc before the end of the decade. But ConocoPhillips is going about its business as normal, mopping up Lower 48 assets and expanding its Permian footprint regardless of any wider decarbonisation shift. The deal makes the US operat
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
