‘As big as Saudi Arabia’: the Permian oilman who sold Pioneer to Exxon

The Financial Times: Scott Sheffield, who started his career in 1979 with Parker & Parsley, a company that later became Pioneer Natural Resources, has sold the firm to ExxonMobil in a nearly $60 billion deal, marking the largest transaction in the U.S. oil sector in decades. Sheffield turned the once “uneconomical” Permian Basin into “probably the largest oil and gas basin in the world,” claiming that it’s “as big as Saudi Arabia” when considering oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids.

Sheffield’s journey includes weathering two Opec price wars, an unprecedented crash in crude prices in 2020, and the industry’s evolving response to climate change. He was also pivotal in lifting the U.S. ban on oil exports in 2015 and later focused on disciplined spending to win back Wall Street after the shale boom. Amid the economic pressures of the pandemic in 2020, he advocated for Texas state intervention to limit oil production but also seized opportunities by acquiring rival Permian producers Parsley Energy and Double Point Energy in 2021 for $11 billion. Selling Pioneer to ExxonMobil will net him $29 million and approximately $150 million in Exxon stock; he will also join Exxon’s board. Despite a life full of retirements and returns, industry insiders are questioning whether this is truly the end for Sheffield’s career in the oil industry.

The entire article can be read at the link https://www.ft.com/content/ac41fd5b-dcd8-4a12-8c81-f10df7cc4c8a