The deal would be one of the biggest in North America’s oil industry this year,

Pioneer Natural Resources is buying DoublePoint Energy in a deal valued at $6.4 billion as it expands in the Permian Basin.

The deal is comprised of approximately 27.2 million shares of Pioneer common stock, $1bn of cash and assumption of approximately $900 million of debt and liabilities, according to a statement from Pioneer.

The deal would be one of the biggest in North America’s oil industry this year, and the first big transaction since the rapid run-up in oil prices to more than $60 per barrel over the past five months. DoublePoint’s investors include Apollo Global Management, Quantum Energy Partners, Magnetar Capital and Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners.

Pioneer chief executive Scott Sheffield is expanding in the Permian Basin in the aftermath of the worst oil-industry collapse in history. Crude prices have advanced 27 per cent this year, more than erasing 2020’s slump, amid increasing optimism that economies will continue to reopen, sparking demand for gasoline, diesel and other fuels.

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