Chord Energy's Strategic Acquisition of Williston Assets from ExxonMobil: Enhancing Operational Scale and Long-term Financial StrengthCHRD This afternoon, CHRD announced the $550mm acquisition of Williston assets from XOM. We see the opportunistic purchase as strategic, given the ability to further scale CHRD's move to 3- and 4-mile laterals, which is key to the forward outlook. We also see it as ~5% accretive to FY26 CFPS at our $61/bbl WTI deck, while keeping leverage near 0.5x. However, it does come at a price given the core nature of the assets, and will reduce near-term shareholder returns to 50% of FCF from 75+% of FCF, until leverage declines <0.5x. We reiterate our Buy rating and move our PT to $130 from $122. Acquisitions: Transaction Details . CHRD will acquire ~48k net acres with ~9mboepd of flowing volumes (78% oil) from XOM for $550mm. CHRD will fund the acquisition with cash and debt, views it as accretive on CF and YE25 deal close expected. We estimate the transaction's 5% accretive on FY26 CFPS.