Occidental Petroleum to buy energy producer CrownRock in $12bn deal

Purchase is latest in series of big takeovers in oil and gas industry and will give Occidental more than 94,000 net acres in Texas

Occidental Petroleum has agreed to buy energy producer CrownRock in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12bn, the latest in a string of vast fossil fuel takeovers in the United States.

The acquisition will increase Occidental's acreage in the oil-rich Permian basin, America's largest oil-producing area, and boost its production in the region by about 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Reuters contributed to this story