By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-875777.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Two local energy giants are becoming one in a deal observers say will be good for North Texas. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more on Exxon Mobil's $41 billion bid to buy XTO Energy.
Irving's Exxon Mobil Corporation, already the world's largest publicly traded company, will get bigger with its deal to buy Fort Worth based XTO. Exxon Mobil will pay 31 billion dollars in stock plus 10 billion of XTO's debt. Exxon Mobil's Alan Jeffers says the company expects few layoffs, because XTO'S workers are natural gas experts. Then the company will launch a new locally based operation overseeing its worldwide natural gas business.
Jeffers: And the plan is to retain most of the XTO employees and add in Exxon Mobil's employees who may be based somewhere else into that new organization.
Southern Methodist University's Maguire Energy Institute Director, Bruce Bullock, says it's a good buy for Exxon Mobil, given depressed natural gas prices. Eventually, he says the move may help consumers, because Exxon Mobil can bring new & efficient methods of getting at XTO's natural gas deposits.
Bullock: And that should help lower the cost of actually bringing this gas out of the ground.
The deal still awaits shareholder and regulatory approval.