Upstream M&A Quarterly Report: Q1 2024

• Investors are maintaining strong interest in US non-conventional assets, with the US accounting for 26% of all deals in Q1 2024. The most significant deal was Diamondback Energy’s acquisition of Endeavour Energy Resources for $26.8 bln, encompassing 1.5 bln boe of 1P reserves and 340,000 boe of daily production.
• In Southeast Asia (the Philippines, Thailand) there is significant investor interest in LNG import terminals, regasification facilities, and other LNG infrastructure, driven by a desire to secure reliable energy supplies amid a depletion of local gas fields.
• The most significant deal in Q1 2024 in value terms was the transfer of an 8% stake in Saudi Aramco from state ownership to companies fully owned by the Public Investment Fund, a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The stake was valued at approximately USD164 bln.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, multinational supermajors have been active. Shell will cease onshore O&G production in Nigeria for the first time since the 1930s, selling its assets to a consortium. TotalEnergies has acquired stakes in offshore licenses in Namibia and South Africa from Africa Oil and its partners.
• In Russia, the buyer of Shell’s 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 LNG integrated project will be the project’s controlling shareholder Gazprom, rather than Novatek, as was anticipated a year ago. The deal value is around USD1 bln. Shell stated that they reserve all their legal rights to their stake in this asset.
• In the CIS, there has been activity in the upstream O&G sector in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Both foreign investors (the Russia-based Tatneft and Canada-based Condor Energies) and local players (Kazakhstanbased Maten Petroleum) have been active.