XOM boosts Permian acreage for $5.6B plus contingencies: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxonmobil-acquire-companies-doubling-permian-140000215.html Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) said today it will more than double its Permian Basin resource to 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent through the acquisition of companies owned by the Bass family of Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated resource of 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in New Mexico’s Delaware Basin, a highly prolific, oil-prone section of the Permian Basin. ExxonMobil will make an upfront payment of $5.6 billion in ExxonMobil shares, and a series of additional contingent cash payments totaling up to $1 billion, to be paid beginning in 2020 and ending no later than 2032 commensurate with the development of the resource. Notably, XOM is using stock rather than cash for the $5.6B up-front amount; perhaps the Bass family insisted on a tax-free exchange.