RE: acquisition makes it more 'defensive to low prices': CEOSP performance explains everything. BTE needs absolutely $75 + oil, yes, the merger brings down the break even price, but at the same time increasing the risk of not being able to pay what they promised such as paying down debt, dividend and buyback on the oil downtrend. This deal is absolutely was done to the anticipation higher oil price ($75+), this could have been a good deal even with lower oil price if the BTE debt was below $400M pre merger.