Partner Report
ERCE Global Upstream M&A Tracker:
Q1 2021
ERCE’s Global Upstream M&A Tracker is a quarterly product that provides an easy and detailed summary and analysis of global upstream M&A deals, both asset- and corporate-level. In this edition we cover upstream M&A activity over the last quarter of 2020 and summarise M&A trends for 2021.
Total M&A deal value in Q4/20 has dropped significantly in comparison to Q3/20. ERCE recorded a total deal value of US$15.97 bn in Q4/20 compared to the US$48.1 bn recorded in Q3/20. There was further consolidation in the US shale oil patch, with notable deals including Diamondback/QEP, Diamondback/Guidon and EQT/Chevron. Two deals crossed the US$1bn mark: the Trafigura/Rosneft deal and the Diamondback/QEP deal.
M&A transaction values crashed as oil prices plummeted during the first quarter of 2020. When oil prices began to recover in 2H 2020, Chevron’s acquisition of Noble Energy kicked off a wave of North American consolidation which peaked in October but slowed down in the final months of the year. The recovery in oil price would have likely been beneficial to deal making, due to a convergence in buyer and seller price valuations.
It is projected that the resurgence in the M&A market in the second half of 2020 would likely continue into 2021, but slow as the year progresses as the number of attractive merger partners starts to shrink. What trends have been observed in the M&A markets and what trends are affecting the oil majors? Download ERCE’s Global Upstream M&A Tracker to find out more.
Read in the full report:
- Comprehensive summary of Upstream M&A deals over the last quarter of 2020
- Upstream M&A Deal Value Analysis over the last two years
- A Potential Australian M&A revival?
- Going forward: M&A trends
- Global Upstream M&A Metrics
About ERCE Asia Pacific
The principals of ERCE have been providing consultancy services to the upstream oil and gas industry for 45 years, since the 1970s. Our experience extends across conventional and unconventional oil and gas provinces worldwide; particularly in Asia Pacific, Australasia, Europe, the Asian Sub-Continent, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and South America. ERCE are the leading independent, privately owned, consultancy company whose personnel comprise of full time geoscientists, petrophysicists, reservoir, cost and facilities engineers and economists across our offices in London, Singapore and Australia. We also retain a network of highly experienced associate consultants who supplement our project teams as required with specialist skills.
Our experience and expertise range from; Merger and Acquisition Evaluation, Field Simulation, Development and Management; Reserves & Resource Auditing; Equity, Valuation and Determination; Exploration Prospectivity & Portfolio Analysis; Risk and Uncertainty modelling; Expert Witness, Unitisation and Redetermination. Our technical team are skilled in database management, detailed core sedimentology interpretation, geomodelling, seismic processing workflows & QC, interpretation and quantitative geophysics, seismic property & AVO modelling, dynamic simulation modelling, history matching and forecasting, well intervention planning, reservoir optimisation and management, all the way through to exploration, appraisal, development planning.
Find out more: www.erce.energy
ERCE Asia Pacific Economics Team
Nicholas Lee
Graduate Economist at ERCE
Nicholas joined ERCE’s Asia Pacific team in 2020 and has since worked on various upstream oil and gas asset valuations for companies in the Asia Pacific, Australia, Africa, Middle East, and the North Sea. His skillset includes financial modelling and valuation, and in-depth knowledge of the upstream industry.
Nicholas holds an MSc degree in Quantitative Finance from the Singapore Management University and a BEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Zhamal Orazbayeva
Head of Economics and Principal Economist at ERCE
Zhamal has over 10 years in Oil & Gas Valuation and Economics. Prior to joining ERCE, she worked as an Oil and Gas Equity Analyst in GMP Securities and Westhouse Securities in the City of London. Her coverage included a number of oil and gas companies with assets and listings internationally, and she visited oil and gas assets in Africa, Kazakhstan, Argentina and offshore Norway.
Zhamal's key skills include corporate and asset valuation, petroleum economics and fiscal regimes, construction of complex oil and gas valuation models in Excel, financial and strategic analysis. She has worked with clients ranging from private and listed upstream companies, IOCs and NOCs to governments.
You might also be interested in
Webinar: The Global Exploration Opportunities at Your Fingertips
In the recent Energy Council Global Survey, 22% of respondents believed that West Africa held the biggest exploration opportunities for 2023 and beyond, closely followed by South America, Guyana and the East Med. With mounting uncertainty around the UK’s fiscal regime, are there more attractive opportunities to be found internationally? read more
WECA 2023: Advisory Board Key Takeaways
Close to 40 senior executives from across the energy industry joined the World Energy Capital Assembly’s annual advisory board to discuss the key challenges and opportunities facing the sector in 2023. Download the report here. read more
Is Gas the Answer to a Pragmatic, Smart and Secure Energy Transition?
Using gas as a bridge to transition is not a new concept but if the goal is to lower emissions whilst still providing affordable and reliable energy for all, one could argue that natural gas could, and should, be the bridge that can enable transition – cutting emissions in the short to medium term and solving the intermittency issue of renewables until the clean energy markets are more established. read more
Industry Next Steps – A View of the North Sea’s Future
The development of new oil and gas fields, and the continued exploitation of mature assets, had become a sticking point in the energy transition discussion. Yet such a discussion did not quite take into account the geopolitical interferences, energy demand and energy security needs that could arise unexpectedly - some may say foolishly. Fortunately, the energy sector has ramped up drilling activity to take advantage of the reprieve shown to North Sea operators. Herein, the Energy Council looks at the next steps of the industry players active in the region and where their futures may lie. read more