Noble Energy Inc. agreed to buy Clayton Williams Energy for $2.7 billion in stock and cash to expand in America’s hottest shale play. The combination will create the second-largest acreage position in the Southern Delaware Basin of the Permian shale formation, Houston-based Noble said in a statement Monday. The deal provides more than 4,200 drilling locations on about 120,000 net acres, with resources of more than 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Noble said. The Permian has been a hot spot for deals because it’s one of the few areas in the world where producers managed to make a profit during the downturn. While crude prices rallied last year thanks to an OPEC-led agreement to ease a global supply glut, they’re at half their peak level in mid-2014. Shareholders of Clayton Williams, based in Midland, Texas, will receive 2.7874 shares of Noble’s common stock and $34.75 for each share […]