Oil consolidation will continue to dominate the upstream M&A landscape
Shale gas industry consolidates in the shadows
While US oil mega-mergers are grabbing all the headlines, there is also an understated revolution in the gas patch
The US shale gas industry has taken a significant step to consolidation with the merger between Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, which was announced in January and is due to close in the second quarter of 2024. While mergers and acquisitions in oil dwarf the deals in gas, the Chesapeake-Southwestern merger, valued at $11.5b including debt, is the largest US gas-focused upstream deal in more than ten years. And there is further consolidation potential. According to energy data analytics firm Enverus, there were around $6b worth of gas-focused deals struck in 2023. In its own right that is still significant even if it compares with $186b worth of oil-weighted M&A. High-profile oi
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