FTC set to greenlight Chevron bid for oil rival Hess

Big player: The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery in Louisiana. Exxon operates all production in Guyana with a 45% stake in an offshore oil production consortium with Hess and CNOOC, as minority partners. — Reuters

NEW YORK: The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to greenlight American oil producer Chevron’s purchase of Hess as soon as this week, two people familiar with the matter say, leaving Exxon Mobil’s challenge to the US$53bil deal as its final hurdle.

The proposed merger was first announced last October, and the FTC sent a second information request to Chevron two months later. Hess shares were up as much as 3% in after-hours trading on Monday following the news.