ConocoPhillips to buy Burlington Resources

Deal valued at $35.6 billion seen a bet that natural-gas prices will stay high

HOUSTON – ConocoPhillips Co. announced plans to acquire oil and gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. for $35.6 billion, in a deal illustrating the surge in both the price and industry demand for natural gas.

The deal announced by the Houston-based companies Monday night will be the the biggest such transaction in the energy in several years. If approved by Burlington shareholders, it would make ConocoPhillips one of the nation’s top producers of natural gas.
The deal “enhances ConocoPhillips’ production growth and North American gas supply position both in the near-term, through projects involving conventional and unconventional resources, and in the long-term through LNG (liquid natural gas) and Arctic gas projects,” ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Jim Mulva said in a written statement.

Mulva said Burlington Resources was “an excellent complement” to the oil and gas portfolio of ConocoPhillips, the nation’s third biggest energy company.