U.S. oil and gas exploration and production companies spent as much as $234 billion on mergers and acquisitions M&A last year—the highest such spend in real dollar terms since 2012, the Energy Information Administration EIA said in an analysis on Tuesday. The deal-making of the past year marks a return to the consolidation trend from before 2020, the EIA noted. Between 2020 and 2022, heightened market volatility and uncertainties in demand and supply led to a decline in transactions.
Analysts and industry executives expect the consolidation drive that began in 2023 to continue this year, with the potential of more mega-deals of the scale that Exxon-Pioneer and Chevron-Hess announced at the end of last year. Industry executives of companies active in the Permian basin expect more large-size deals to be announced in the coming months, according to the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey.