Chevron won its hotly contested legal battle against rival Exxon Mobil, allowing it to immediately close its $53 billion acquisition of Hess on July 18 and give the Big Oil major access to arguably the biggest oil discovery of the century offshore of sparsely populated Guyana.

Chevron Corp. won its arbitration battle with Exxon Mobil Corp. and has closed its $53-billion deal to buy Hess Corp. more than 20 months after the takeover was announced.

Chevron will proceed with its $53 billion acquisition of Hess, after it prevailed in a landmark legal battle against larger rival Exxon Mobil to gain access to the largest oil discovery in decades.