What Morgan Stanley has to say. (just the stuff thats relevant to us in particular)

Of course none of this matters to us if Exxon pulls out of Hungary.

Exxon Mobil Corporation
Taking Shale Gas Global;

XOM Buys XTO

Investment conclusion: ExxonMobil’s bid for XTO is
the clearest indicator to date of two long-term, strategic
realities: 1) The bullish potential for global gas demand
growth, and 2) the increasing challenge of growing oil
production/reserves. We do not believe that XOM is
calling a bottom in US natgas, but rather is attempting to
capitalize on an extensive acreage position in
international unconventional resources and a positive
view of global natgas demand growth. While we believe
that the deal may well be vindicated long-term,
near-term the market will likely focus on the increased
exposure to US natgas and returns dilution into a weak
2010. Maintain Equal-weight.

Putting 5+ million acres to work internationally
While the market may be tempted to view this transaction as
calling the bottom on US natural gas, the drivers are much
more strategic and company specific, in our view. Over recent
years, XOM has amassed approximately 5 million acres in
international unconventional properties, but has as yet spent
very little money on exploration and development. We view the
acquisition, and the subsequent establishment of a new global
upstream organization focused on global unconventional gas
development, as the first step in leveraging its massive
acreage position for full-scale development.

For XTO, the deal provides the opportunity to leverage its
technical and operational expertise on a significant new
acreage position (5.0m acres internationally vs. XTO’s entire
2.5m acre domestic position), addressing concerns of a
slowing growth outlook going forward. The view of our E&P
analyst, Stephen Richardson, has been that given its size, XTO
would have a difficult time replicating its pattern of double digit
volume growth and FCF generation in the coming 2-3 years.

Timing of development for the International acreage.

We expect an increase in activity following the closing of the deal
(2Q 2010), however the speed of drilling/development will be a
key metric to watch.

Project economics in Poland, Germany, Hungary.

We have seen very little detail from XOM to date and look for more in the
future, possibly at the March analyst mtg. Oil priced linkage will
help, but lack of service infrastructure will be a challenge in
these emerging plays.