The board of directors of the US oil and gas producer Anadarko has determined that the revised acquisition proposal from Occidental Petroleum constitutes a "Superior Proposal" as defined in Anadarko's previously announced merger agreement with Chevron. Consequently, Anadarko will terminate the Chevron Merger Agreement, will pay Chevron the US$1bn termination fee, and will enter into a definitive merger agreement with Occidental. Chevron will have until 10 May 2019 to propose revisions to the merger agreement or to submit another proposal.
In April 2019, Chevron and Anadarko entered into a merger agreement, under the terms of which Chevron would acquire all Anadarko's outstanding shares for US$33bn, or US$65 per share ($16.25 in cash and 0.3869 share of Chevron common stock per share of Anadarko common stock). However, in late April 2019, Occidental Petroleum offered US$76 per share of Anadarko, valuing the group at US$38bn (US$38 in cash and 0.6094 of a share of Occidental common stock) to take over Anadarko. In early May 2019, Occidental Petroleum revised the cash and stock ratio to improve its proposal, offering US$76 per share, including US$59 per share in cash and 0.2934 shares of Occidental common stock per share of Anadarko common stock. The group also committed financing for the entire cash portion of the aggregate transaction consideration.
Anadarko is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, with 1.47 Gboe of proved reserves at the end of 2018. The group has upstream and midstream operations in the United States, interests in deepwater exploration blocks offshore Colombia, Guyana and Peru, oil production activities in Algeria and Ghana, exploration activities in South Africa and gas resources in Mozambique. Anadarko is taking part (26.5% stake) to the Mozambique LNG (MLNG) export project, which would tap estimated recoverable gas reserves of 75 Tcf (2,120 bcm) and would include two liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of 12.88 Mt/year (expected in 2022-2023). If Occidental takes over Anardarko, it will sell Anadarko’s assets in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa to Total for US$8.8bn.