A major takeover in the oil market. The giant won a legal battle and gained access to a huge deposit.

As reported by Reuters, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth's strategy to improve the company's poor performance was based on the acquisition of Exxon Mobil. It was one of the largest energy deals of the last decade.

Chevron won the opportunity to extract oil in a very attractive location

The transaction gave Chevron a stake in the rich Stabroek field off the coast of Guyana, which contains more than 11 billion barrels of oil and is one of the fastest-growing oil regions in the world.

Chevron shares rose 3% in premarket trading , while Hess shares soared 7%. Exxon shares fell slightly.

“This merger of two great American companies combines the best of what the industry has to offer,” Wirth said in a statement.

Exxon and China's CNOOC, Hess's partners in Guyana, filed arbitration claims claiming they had first refusal rights to buy Hess's shares, which delayed the completion of Chevron's acquisition of Hess by more than a year.

“We disagree with the interpretation of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) panel, but we respect the arbitration and dispute resolution process,” Exxon said in a statement.

“Given the significant value we have created in developing Guyana’s resources, we felt we had a clear obligation to our investors to consider our right of first refusal to protect the value we created through our innovation and hard work at a time when no one knew how successful this venture would be,” the company added.

The decision is final. There is no appeals procedure.

There is no appeals procedure in the International Chamber of Commerce, the court supervising arbitration proceedings.

According to Reuters, pending the arbitration verdict, Chevron was preparing to finalize the agreement with Hess within 48 hours of the arbitration ruling and complete remaining operational tasks within 45 days.

Chevron and Hess IT specialists met regularly to plan the integration, and Hess employees were informed that they could apply for severance pay once the transaction was completed.

The entire oil world was following Chevron's fight against Exxon and CNOOC.

The claims by Exxon and CNOOC sparked a lengthy legal battle that captured the attention of the global oil industry, shareholders and lawyers who write joint operating agreements that govern oil partnerships around the world .

The dispute centered on the interpretation of just a few words in a confidential joint operating agreement between Exxon, Hess, and CNOOC. CNBC, which first reported Chevron's victory, cited an interview with Exxon CEO Darren Woods, who said the company was analyzing the ruling to determine whether to include provisions in its contracts that would ensure it prevails in future disputes.

CNBC also reported that Woods said Exxon and Chevron's relationships on other projects around the world had been good throughout the arbitration proceedings.

" This was never a Chevron issue . It was more about enforcing the contracts as intended," Woods told CNBC.

The dispute between the oil giants highlights the value of the Stabroek field, which generated profits for the Exxon-led consortium that controls all oil production and transformed Guyana into one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

Hess's Guyana revenue rose to $3.1 billion last year from $1.9 billion in 2023. Chevron's adjusted earnings last year totaled $18.3 billion, compared with $24.7 billion in 2023.

In late May of this year, the media reported the discovery of a massive oil field in the neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in North Wafra Wara-Burgan . In addition to both countries, the US-based Chevron is also involved in the project.