Irving, Dec 14 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a huge business deal, Exxon Mobil has agreed to buy XTO Energy in a whopping $31 billion stock deal. XTO Energy Incorporation is a large supplier of natural gas. This deal by Exxon is a clear-cut strategy by them, to diversify into greener fuels like, into natural gas. They wanted to diversify away from oil. This historic deal might pave the way for more acquisitions by big energy companies of U.S. natural gas suppliers.

This agreement will now be subject to XTO stockholder approval and regulatory clearance, and it will certainly diversify ExxonMobil’s position in the development of unconventional natural gas and oil resources.

The terms of the agreement were approved by the boards of directors of both the companies. ExxonMobil will issue 0.7098 common shares for each common share of XTO. And this is going to be a 25 percent premium to XTO stockholders.

“We are pleased that ExxonMobil and XTO have reached this agreement,” said Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

“XTO is a leading U.S. unconventional natural gas producer, with an outstanding resource base, strong technical expertise and highly skilled employees. XTO’s strengths, together with ExxonMobil’s advanced R&D and operational capabilities, global scale and financial capacity, should enable development of additional supplies of unconventional oil and gas resources, benefiting consumers both here in the United States and around the world.”

Since this agreement the U.S. stocks were trading higher Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 24 points to 10495, the S&P 500 up 4.6 points to 1111 and the Nasdaq Composite up 10 points to 2200. And the companies, which were actively trading in the session, are XTO Energy Inc. (XOM), Citigroup Inc. and California Micro Devices Corp.