Bring on the deals

Conditions are right for a surge in M&A activity in 2017, despite lingering uncertainty over valuations

Mergers and acquisitions activity is primed to take off in 2017. As 2016 came towards a close, initiated deals were at record levels, with majors setting ambitious divestment targets, operators streamlining their businesses, services firms restructuring and some national oil companies in the Middle East and Africa taking steps towards privatisation. The mood as 2016 came to a close marked a radical shift from the first half of the year, when the M&A market remained volatile and cautious, at one point setting a new record for inactivity. That partly occurred as companies adapted to the structural change taking place in oil and gas markets - the shift from an era in which notions of resour