The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, Feb. 13, edition that Diamondback Energy reached an agreement to buy fellow Texas oil-and-gas producer Endeavor Energy through a $26-billion deal that will create the largest pure-play operator in the prolific Permian basin (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that the agreement is the latest in a string of massive deals transforming the U.S. energy landscape as companies push to line up future drilling sites and cut costs. Over the past four months, Exxon Mobil struck a deal to buy Pioneer Resources for about $60-billion, Chevron agreed to buy Hess for about $53-billion and Occidental Petroleum agreed to buy Crownrock for about $10.8-billion. "This is a combination of two strong, established companies merging to create a 'must own' North American independent oil company," Diamondback chief executive officer Travis Stice said. "With this combination, Diamondback not only gets bigger, it gets better." The consolidation marks a maturing of the long-fragmented shale industry. It comes as publicly traded producers face pressure from investors to keep buybacks and dividends flowing even as many of the top drilling sites have been tapped.