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U.S. shale oil and gas producer Devon announced on February 2 that it had agreed to acquire Coterra through a stock swap, with the transaction expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026. Under the transaction agreement, each share of stock held by Coterra’s shareholders will be exchanged for 0.7 shares of Daven Energy stock. Shareholders of Devon Energy will hold 54% of the shares in the combined company, while shareholders of Coterra will hold 46%. *****It is believed that this integration took place at a time of global oil supply surplus. Coupled with an increasing amount of Venezuelan crude oil returning to the market, this has put pressure on U.S. crude oil prices, thereby reducing the profit margins for companies involved in shale oil production. Although M&A activity in the shale oil and gas industry declined in 2025, producers in shale fields continued to pursue scale advantages: improving their competitiveness by reducing costs per barrel and extending drilling cycles in mature fields such as the Permian and Anadarko. The merged company will be named \"Devon Energy,\" with a corporate value of $58 billion (approximately 402.5 billion yuan). It will become one of the largest oil and gas companies in the United States, its production volume being only lower than that of ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips. The goal of both companies is to achieve annual savings of $1 billion in pre-tax costs by 2027. The newly formed company, based on the high-quality shale deposits in the Delaware Basin in the United States, will have a daily production capacity of over 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, including more than 550,000 barrels of crude oil and 4.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas.