April 12, 2019 was an auspicious day for Chevron. The supermajor, whose oil and gas tentacles extend across the world, announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Anadarko Petroleum for $33 billion. The assets at stake included 580,000 acres in the Permian’s Delaware and 400,000 acres in the DJ Basin.

But as we all know, the deal quickly soured when Occidental outbid Chevron and snapped up Anadarko for $57 billion. The rest, as they say, is history. Maybe.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from Chevron and its $6.3 billion acquisition of PDC Energy that includes 275,000 acres in the DJ and 216 MBOED, and 25,000 net acres in the Permian and 28 MBOED. The acquired DJ assets, in addition to Chevron’s existing footprint, bumps Occidental from the basin’s largest producer and hands the crown to Chevron with a now 594,000 net acres. The purchase price is a mere blip on Chevron’s radar. The company posted $7.2 billion in 1Q cash flow.

Of course, the real prizes to be had in the PDC buy are the added 1,000 drilling permits and 1 billion barrels of proved reserves—common denominators in the recent wave of consolidation. Where this deal differs, however, is Colo.’s regulatory environment where two more bills have now been proposed that further restrict drilling. While no other bids are expected for PDC, at least one analyst has mused that the only other contender could be—wait for it—Occidental.