Forbes Piece: 2023 A Slow Year For Big Oil Deals, But That Could Change

The first quarter of 2023 presented relatively slim pickings where merger and acquisitions (M&A) in the oil and gas upstream segment were concerned, per a new report from Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus. All told for the year’s first three months, EIR was able to total up just $8.6 billion in M&A value among 16 significant upstream transactions.

A Focus on the Eagle Ford Shale

One interesting aspect is that deals focused on the Eagle Ford Shale accounted for more than $5 billion in total value, overshadowing the Permian Basin, which has been the major focus area for upstream activity for the better part of a decade. “It was the best quarter for the Eagle Ford in almost ten years,” Andrew Dittmar, Director at Enverus, told me in an interview. “One of the top three, certainly, since 2010.”

When asked how his analysts account for this, Dittmar says, “the Eagle Ford is a good place for people to be shopping for deals where you want to buy essentially for the value of the existing production,” and that is what most acquiring companies are looking for in the current market environment, with softening prices and uncertain economic conditions.