January 16, 2009
24/7 WALLst
Yesterday’s story about Venezuela opening the bidding for its oil resources raised an interesting question. What are the chances that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), with nearly $40 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter or Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) with about $11 billion will acquire new assets or purchase smaller companies? Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A-B) is sitting on nearly $8 billion in cash, and BP plc (NYSE:BP) holds more than $6 billion. If you have listened to what Big Oil operators have been saying, you can assume that there is at least some interest in them looking at opportunistic acquisitions of companies, units, or reserve assets.