The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that Ovintiv has agreed to buy NuVista in a deal valued at $2.7-billion that expands the shale explorer's operations in Canada (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says the cash-and-stock acquisition for Calgary-based NuVista will give Ovintiv about 930 well locations and 140,000 net acres in the core of Alberta's oil-rich Montney basin. The deal is expected to generate about $100-million in annual cost savings. "This transaction boosts our free cash flow per share," Ovintiv chief executive officer Brendan McCracken said in a statement. "The NuVista assets were identified as part of an in-depth technical and commercial analysis to identify the highest value undeveloped oil resource in North America." U.S. shale companies are increasingly buying rivals as they push to gain scale and secure future drilling sites in aging basins. The assets Ovintiv is buying through NuVista are directly adjacent to its current operations in the Montney and include access to processing and refining infrastructure. "The strategic merit of the deal appears robust," Citigroup analyst Scott Gruber said in a note. Shares of Ovintiv fell on the news, while NuVista shares rose.