ConocoPhillips is in advanced talks to buy Burlington Resources for more than $31 billion in the latest deal in the rapidly consolidating oil and gas industry, according to people involved in the talks.
The acquisition would give ConocoPhillips control of important natural-gas exploration areas in the United States, where Burlington has been using new drilling technologies in its search for new reserves.
Burlington has gas holdings in the San Juan Basin near Four Corners, the Wind River Basin in Wyoming and Williston Basin in North Dakota.
Other major oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, have been moving aggressively in recent months to increase their natural-gas production in this country.
The talks come against a backdrop of soaring natural-gas prices around the nation after hurricanes this fall that knocked out production at platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Frigid temperatures in some parts of the country in recent days have pushed prices even higher.
Last week, natural-gas prices reached more than $15 per thousand cubic feet in trading, near a record.
Talks between ConocoPhillips and Burlington are near completion, the executives said, but they warned that it was still possible that the negotiations could collapse. If a deal is reached, it could be announced as early as this week.
Details of the terms could not be learned, and spokesmen for the companies could not be reached for comment.