據世界石油網2022年4月13日報道，美國知名能源數據分析和SaaS技術公司Enverus日前發布了其今年第一季度美國上游并購活動總結報告。 由于并購市場進入新的一年，今年第一季度美國上游領域宣布了140億美元的并購交易。今年1月份的60億美元并購交易是美國過去5年來最強勁的并購市場啟動。 不過，最近一筆重大并購交易發生在3月初，當時大宗商品價格飆升，導致并購交易活動暫時停止。  

Enverus負責人安德魯·迪特馬爾表示：“所有使去年上游并購交易保持彈性的因素都延續到了新的一年。這包括上市公司對庫存的需求、現成的私人賣家以及優惠的定價。 然而，由于地緣政治沖突導致能源價格的波動，3月份幾乎所有的并購交易協議都被擱置。”

總體而言，美國落基山脈地區第一季度的并購交易最為活躍(占第一季度總價值的50%以上)，尤其是買家對北達科他州威利斯頓盆地和科羅拉多州DJ盆地的濃厚興趣。 二疊紀盆地的交易價值略低于30%，而在馬塞勒斯盆地的一筆大交易則推動了東部地區約20%的交易價值。 此前活躍的海恩斯維爾盆地第一季度的并購交易減少，而鷹福特盆地的交易活動持續緩慢，這意味著阿肯色州-洛杉磯-得克薩斯州（Ark-La-Tex）和墨西哥灣地區的并購交易稀少。

在第一季度規模最大的5筆并購交易中，有4筆并購交易的首要主題仍是民營企業退出。切薩皮克能源公司以26億美元的價格收購私營公司Chief 油氣公司和相關的Tug Hill權益，繼續擴大其在馬塞勒斯盆地東北部的核心天然氣庫存。

“買家一直對提高交易報價以配合大宗商品價格的上漲持謹慎態度。 即使在最近一輪波動之前，就多數指標而言，上游資產的定價都比歷史平均水平低。”伴隨戰爭而來的大宗商品價格迅速飆升，尤其拉大了買家愿意支付的價格和賣家期望得到的價格之間的差距。 而且由于它們之間的差距太大，我們看到了上游并購交易在3月初被暫停。” 

一種不太容易受到大宗商品定價風險影響的交易類型是所謂的對等并購。 在這些兼并中，兩家規模相似的上市公司合并時，只向被收購公司支付很少或根本沒有溢價。 這些類型的交易旨在為投資者創造一個更大、更穩定的平臺，在疫情后的市場初期更為常見。 3月初，巴肯盆地的綠洲石油公司和惠廷石油公司的合并是這種類型交易的回歸，也是自2021年8月以來的首次公開上市公司合并。 這兩家中等規模的生產商可能希望，一家更大的公司將給他們提供更大的規模，以便更好地進行進一步整合，并增加日漸成熟的巴肯盆地的庫存。

迪特馬爾說：“仍有大量的上游并購交易有待完成。 這些可能來自私營企業的進一步退出，康菲公司和埃克森美孚公司等大型石油生產商的非核心銷售，或者其他規模較小的勘探開發公司尋找合并伙伴。我們需要的只是大宗商品價格的穩定，以及一兩宗作為基準交易的收購，以重振美國本應活躍的交易市場。” 

李峻 編譯自 世界石油網

原文如下：

Report shows U.S. upstream mergers and acquisitions open strong in 2022

Enverus, an energy data analytics and SaaS technology company, is releasing its summary of Q1 2022 M&A activity. As the M&A market marched into the new year, $14 billion in deals were announced during the first quarter of 2022. The $6 billion transacted in January 2022 was the strongest M&A market launch in five years. However, the last significant transaction occurred in early March before a spike in commodity prices temporarily halted activity.

“All the factors that kept upstream deals resilient in 2021 carried over into the new year,” said Andrew Dittmar, director at Enverus. “That included a need for inventory by public companies, ready private sellers and favorable pricing. However, the volatility in energy prices stalled nearly all deals in March.”

Overall, deals were most active in the Rockies region (more than 50% of total Q1 22 value) driven particularly by buyer interest in North Dakota’s Williston Basin and Colorado’s DJ Basin. The always consistent Permian Basin captured a bit under 30% of deal value and one big deal in the Marcellus drove the roughly 20% of value allocated to the Eastern region. A lack of deals in the previously active Haynesville and a continued slow pace in the Eagle Ford meant transactions in Ark-La-Tex and the Gulf Coast were sparse.

Private company exits remained a primary theme accounting for four of the five largest deals of the quarter. Chesapeake continued its buildout of core gas-focused inventory in the northeast Marcellus by acquiring private Chief Oil & Gas and associated Tug Hill interests in a $2.6 billion transaction. 

“Buyers have been cautious about raising the offer price in deals to match the rise in commodity prices. Even before the latest bout of volatility, upstream assets were pricing cheaply on most metrics relative to historical averages,” Dittmar said. “The quick surge in commodity prices that accompanied the war has particularly blown out the gap between what buyers are willing to pay and sellers expect to get. And because they are so far apart, we have seen a pause in upstream deals.”

One of the deal types less susceptible to commodity pricing risk is the so-called corporate mergers of equals. In these mergers, two public companies of similar size combine with little to no premium paid to the acquired company. These types of deals, targeted at creating a larger and hopefully more stable platform for investors, were more common in the early innings of the post-COVID market. The combination of Oasis Petroleum and Whiting Petroleum in the Bakken in early March was a return to this type of transaction and the first public-public company merger since August 2021. The two mid-sized producers are likely hopeful that a larger company will give them the scale to better pursue further consolidation and add inventory in the maturing Bakken.

“There should still be plenty of upstream deals to be had,” Dittmar said. “Those can come from further private exits, non-core sales by the big producers like ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, or the remaining smaller E&Ps finding merger partners. We just need some stability in commodity pricing and an acquisition or two to benchmark deals to reignite what should be an active market.”