Insight
Global upstream M&A: 2023 review and outlook
Report summary
Deal count posted its second-lowest annual total of the last two decades, ahead only of covid-struck 2020. Despite this, there were more billion-dollar-plus deals in 2023 than in any year since 2016. There were also four transactions with a consideration over US$10 billion – the joint-highest on record. As a result, deal spend climbed more than 250% year-on-year to its second-highest annual total. The Majors massively stepped-up upstream M&A activity in 2023. ExxonMobil and Chevron’s blockbuster takeovers of Pioneer and Hess headlined, but they weren't the only deals that the US Majors executed. The Euro Majors also made material moves. Access to capital may have stymied smaller companies and hampered asset transactions, particularly in H1. But by the end of the year, all eyes were on consolidation. Alongside the US Majors' deals, Occidental and Harbour announced huge takeouts of privately held CrownRock and Wintershall Dea. Reports suggest we’ll see more of the same in 2024.
Table of contents
- No table of contents specified
Tables and charts
No table or charts specified
What's included
This report contains:
Other reports you may be interested in
Insight
Long-term Brent price maintained at US$65/bbl – oil and gas price assumptions versus forecasts
Defining our price assumptions and methodology, their use in our tools and services, and why these are independent of our price forecasts.
$1,350
Insight
Global upstream M&A: H1 2023 review and outlook
Fewer, but bigger, transactions in H1 2023
$1,350
Insight
Global upstream M&A in brief: 2021 archive
The global upstream M&A in brief provides the Wood Mackenzie view on all of the key M&A events as they unfold.
$1,350
