Canadian based company Encana Corporation announced its acquisition of Newfield Exploration Company on Thursday. According to yesterday’s press release, the companies have a definitive agreement where Encana will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Newfield in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $5.5 billion dollars. The deal also means Encana will assume $2.2 billion dollars of Newfield debt. “The strategic combination will create a leading multi-basin company and has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both companies,” shares Newfield. Pending the approval of shareholder of both companies, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. “This transaction is the best path forward for our company,” shares Newfield President and CEO Lee Boothby. “The combination of the two companies provides our investors with the very attributes that should be differentiated in today’s energy sector…We strongly believe that the synergies between these two organizations will create a dominant diversified resource player that is positioned to drive future value…Throughout our 30-year history, Newfield has worked to create a strong portfolio of assets managed by some of the best and brightest people in the business. The merger will accelerate the development of these assets and as a result, capture full value for our owners.” Newfield operations are onshore and primarily located in Oklahoma, North Dakota, and the Uintah Basin in northeastern Utah.