The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday reversed a previous order that had barred Hess Corp CEO John Hess from the board of directors at Chevron as a condition of the oil giant’s pending $53 billion acquisition of his company.
ExxonMobil and Hess are locked in an arbitration case, with a ruling related to a major oilfield project in Guyana set to determine whether Chevron can move forward with its planned acquisition of Hess.
Chevron struck a deal to acquire smaller U.S. oil producer Hess in October 2023, with an eye on the latter’s 30% stake in the prolific Stabroek block in Guyana that is operated by ExxonMobil with a 45% interest.
“We are very pleased with the FTC’s unanimous decision,” a Chevron spokesperson told Reuters.
Separately, the FTC on Thursday also reversed a prior order that had barred Scott Sheffield, the founder and former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, from ExxonMobil’s board after its acquisition of Pioneer.
Exxon, and Hess did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments. Sheffield could not immediately be reached for a comment.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Susan Heavey and Shailesh Kuber)