Another Permian Giant May Be Forced To Consolidate Or Die

One by one they are starting to fall. The long predicted consolidation wave in U.S. shale players, particularly those with assets in the Permian stacked play, is in high gear. Just in the last month or so, Chevron, (NYSE:CVX) has taken out Noble Energy, (NYSE:NBL); Devon (NYSE:DVN) swallowed WPX Energy, (NYSE: WPX); ConocoPhillips, (NYSE: COP) snapped up Concho Resources, (NYSE: CXO), and just last night, Pioneer Exploration, (NYSE: PXD), announced it would merge with Parsley Energy, (NYSE:PE). Earlier this year in an OilPrice article, I wrote…