Exxon Mobil is selling its Canadian shale gas business for roughly $1.5 billion, marking the oil giant’s exit from regions rich in natural gas but relatively remote and stunted by a lack of pipelines and other infrastructure.
The all-cash sale of XTO Energy Canada, jointly owned by Exxon and subsidiary Imperial Oil to Whitecap Resources is the industry’s latest move to consolidate oil-field investments in Western Canada, including in the Montney and Duvernay shale plays. Exxon and its affiliates had more than 600,000 net acres in the region, and the sale is expected to close in the third quarter.
