Chevron, Hess, and the Exxon Claim: 'The Prize Is Guyana'
How Exxon's pre-emptive rights claim threatened to derail Chevron's $53 billion acquisition of Hess, and the arbitration that decided who gets a slice of the world's most exciting oil basin.
"We didn't buy Hess for its terrible day-rate business in Texas. We bought the hundred miles off the coast of Guyana, and Exxon intends to make that claim painful." In October 2023, Chevron agreed to buy Hess Corporation for $53 billion. The true prize was Hess's 30 percent stake in the Stabroek block off Guyana, one of the world's most valuable oil discoveries in a generation—and a block operated by ExxonMobil. Exxon claimed a right of first refusal over Hess's stake, setting off more than a year of arbitration that nearly broke the deal.
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- Mike Wirth pitches John Hess
- Exxon asserts its rights
- The arbitration decision