Exxon's Bid Spotlights Bright Future for Natural Gas

After quietly grabbing up unconventional natural gas reserves for years, Exxon Mobil Corp. moved boldly yesterday to buy one of the largest U.S. independent gas companies, XTO Energy, in a deal valued at $41 billion.

The oil and gas behemoth announced that it planned to use XTO to establish a new business unit that would develop and deploy technologies to extract fuels from shales, tight sands and coal seams.

Analysts see Exxon’s bid — the company’s biggest financial move since its merger with Mobil in 1999 — affirming the growing status of natural gas as a U.S. energy source.

New York Times