Shell has sold its Permian holdings to ConocoPhillips for $9.5 billion. For Shell, getting out of its holdings in the biggest onshore US oil play was based on "our focus on value over volumes." For ConocoPhillips, adding 225,000 acres and 175,000 BOE/D amounts to doubling down on the Permian, where it paid $9.7 billion a year ago to buy Concho Resources, instantly establishing itself as a major player in the dominant shale-oil play. One difference in the deal: The Concho deal made not long after last year's oil price crash was all stock. With oil prices up, the company paid cash for the Shell acreage. Shell will use that money to try to boost its stock price, with a plan to spend $7 billion to buy back shares and spend the balance on "strengthening of the balance sheet." From Shell's standpoint, this acreage, which is heavily tilted toward high-cost shale production, is a depreciating asset.