Insights

Q4: Private company deals continue to dominate upstream M&A in North America

| By Mark Young

Private companies’ predominance in North American upstream M&A continued in Q4 2022 based on Evaluate Energy’s latest deal analysis.

Evaluate Energy’s new infographic shows that 81% of all global deal value – in an especially lacklustre quarter for dealmaking – was spent on North American assets, and that private companies were involved in the five highest-value U.S. and Canadian deals.

  • The U.S. deals included the highest value Q4 deal worldwide that will see Continental Resources taken into private ownership, as well as acquisitions by Marathon Oil and Diamondback Energy.
  • In Canada, the oilsands sector saw its first +$1 billion quarter in the post-pandemic era, fuelled by the $950 million acquisition of Greenfire Resources by M3-Brigade Acquisition III Corp.

“Acquisitions of private operators by public companies remain a key trend, in part due to a lack of appetite for oil and gas IPOs, which blocks a key monetization route for private operators,” said Eoin Coyne, senior M&A analyst. “Equally, private operators have been looking to monetize investments while oil and gas prices are relatively high.”

Evaluate Energy’s latest M&A infographic can be downloaded at this link.

Included within the infographic:

  • More details on these private company deals
  • Why global deal activity fell to record lows based on several metrics in Q4 and 2022 overall
  • Evaluate Energy’s 2023 outlook for upstream M&A
  • Regional breakdowns of all Q4 activity

 

 

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