Oil and gas deals see significant rise in 2009
Monday, 11 January 2010
The fourth quarter of 2009 saw a significant increase in oil and gas deals from the quarter before, buoyed mainly by the $41 billion ExxonMobil Corp. acquisition of XTO Energy, according to a new report from PLS Inc. and Derrick Petroleum Services. A total of $75 billion in mergers and acquisitions was done over the quarter in 172 deals, up from $21 billion in 112 deals.
According to Brian Lidsky, managing director of research at PLS, the ExxonMobil acquisition "gave the market and producers a large dose of confidence."After the ExxonMobil deal, Total SA and Chesapeake Energy Corp. entered into a $2.25 billion joint venture in the Barnett Shale.
Stabilising oil prices was a large impetus for the deal, as well as the buyer's market created by ailing balance sheets on traditionally strong companies. Of the 172 transactions, 10 were worth more than $1 billion - eight in oil and two in gas.
Four of those 10 deals were in the United States, which led all countries with $53.4 billion in activity. The US saw a huge increase in the value of deals done from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, rising from $4.3 billion to $53.3 billion, while the actual number of transactions 46 to 60 did not increase that much.
According to Brian Lidsky, managing director of research at PLS, the ExxonMobil acquisition "gave the market and producers a large dose of confidence."After the ExxonMobil deal, Total SA and Chesapeake Energy Corp. entered into a $2.25 billion joint venture in the Barnett Shale.
Stabilising oil prices was a large impetus for the deal, as well as the buyer's market created by ailing balance sheets on traditionally strong companies. Of the 172 transactions, 10 were worth more than $1 billion - eight in oil and two in gas.
Four of those 10 deals were in the United States, which led all countries with $53.4 billion in activity. The US saw a huge increase in the value of deals done from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, rising from $4.3 billion to $53.3 billion, while the actual number of transactions 46 to 60 did not increase that much.