Sources say CEOs of the two oil giants talked in early 2020 about combining their two companies.

有消息稱，兩大石油巨頭的CEO在2020年初談及兩家公司的合併問題。

Those discussions did not lead to a deal, but they indicate just how much pressure the two companies faced as a health crisis slammed oil demand, sending crude futures into negative territory.

這些討論並沒有達成協議，但它們表明，由於健康危機重創了石油需求，使原油期貨進入負面區域，兩家公司面臨的壓力有多大。

In April, a Saudi Russia price war also caused the value of oil to crater.

4月，沙特俄羅斯的價格戰也導致石油價值暴跌。

Ah source said the CEO sought massive cost cuts to help their companies, whether the market downturn after the talks bore no fruit, Chevron went on to buy oil producer Noble Energy for $5 billion.

啊消息人士稱，CEO尋求大規模的成本削減以幫助他們的公司，是否市場低迷後的談判沒有結果，雪佛龍繼續以50億美元收購石油生產商諾貝爾能源公司。

Ah proposed merger would have faced an intense anti trust review by Justice officials.

啊提議的合併將面臨司法官員激烈的反信託審查。

Exxon and Chevron declined to comment.

埃克森公司和雪佛龍公司拒絕發表評論。

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

白宮和司法部沒有立即迴應評論請求。

Shares of both companies fell in early trading Monday.

兩家公司的股價在週一早盤下跌。