據(jù)世界石油網(wǎng)2022年4月13日?qǐng)?bào)道，美國(guó)知名能源數(shù)據(jù)分析和SaaS技術(shù)公司Enverus日前發(fā)布了其今年第一季度美國(guó)上游并購(gòu)活動(dòng)總結(jié)報(bào)告。 由于并購(gòu)市場(chǎng)進(jìn)入新的一年，今年第一季度美國(guó)上游領(lǐng)域宣布了140億美元的并購(gòu)交易。今年1月份的60億美元并購(gòu)交易是美國(guó)過(guò)去5年來(lái)最強(qiáng)勁的并購(gòu)市場(chǎng)啟動(dòng)。 不過(guò)，最近一筆重大并購(gòu)交易發(fā)生在3月初，當(dāng)時(shí)大宗商品價(jià)格飆升，導(dǎo)致并購(gòu)交易活動(dòng)暫時(shí)停止。  

Enverus負(fù)責(zé)人安德魯·迪特馬爾表示：“所有使去年上游并購(gòu)交易保持彈性的因素都延續(xù)到了新的一年。這包括上市公司對(duì)庫(kù)存的需求、現(xiàn)成的私人賣(mài)家以及優(yōu)惠的定價(jià)。 然而，由于地緣政治沖突導(dǎo)致能源價(jià)格的波動(dòng)，3月份幾乎所有的并購(gòu)交易協(xié)議都被擱置?！?/p>

總體而言，美國(guó)落基山脈地區(qū)第一季度的并購(gòu)交易最為活躍(占第一季度總價(jià)值的50%以上)，尤其是買(mǎi)家對(duì)北達(dá)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(jì)盆地的交易價(jià)值略低于30%，而在馬塞勒斯盆地的一筆大交易則推動(dòng)了東部地區(qū)約20%的交易價(jià)值。 此前活躍的海恩斯維爾盆地第一季度的并購(gòu)交易減少，而鷹福特盆地的交易活動(dòng)持續(xù)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(qū)的并購(gòu)交易稀少。

在第一季度規(guī)模最大的5筆并購(gòu)交易中，有4筆并購(gòu)交易的首要主題仍是民營(yíng)企業(yè)退出。切薩皮克能源公司以26億美元的價(jià)格收購(gòu)私營(yíng)公司Chief 油氣公司和相關(guān)的Tug Hill權(quán)益，繼續(xù)擴(kuò)大其在馬塞勒斯盆地東北部的核心天然氣庫(kù)存。

“買(mǎi)家一直對(duì)提高交易報(bào)價(jià)以配合大宗商品價(jià)格的上漲持謹(jǐn)慎態(tài)度。 即使在最近一輪波動(dòng)之前，就多數(shù)指標(biāo)而言，上游資產(chǎn)的定價(jià)都比歷史平均水平低。”伴隨戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)而來(lái)的大宗商品價(jià)格迅速飆升，尤其拉大了買(mǎi)家愿意支付的價(jià)格和賣(mài)家期望得到的價(jià)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(gòu)交易在3月初被暫停?！?nbsp;

一種不太容易受到大宗商品定價(jià)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)影響的交易類型是所謂的對(duì)等并購(gòu)。 在這些兼并中，兩家規(guī)模相似的上市公司合并時(shí)，只向被收購(gòu)公司支付很少或根本沒(méi)有溢價(jià)。 這些類型的交易旨在為投資者創(chuàng)造一個(gè)更大、更穩(wěn)定的平臺(tái)，在疫情后的市場(chǎng)初期更為常見(jiàn)。 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(lái)的首次公開(kāi)上市公司合并。 這兩家中等規(guī)模的生產(chǎn)商可能希望，一家更大的公司將給他們提供更大的規(guī)模，以便更好地進(jìn)行進(jìn)一步整合，并增加日漸成熟的巴肯盆地的庫(kù)存。

迪特馬爾說(shuō)：“仍有大量的上游并購(gòu)交易有待完成。 這些可能來(lái)自私營(yíng)企業(yè)的進(jìn)一步退出，康菲公司和?？松梨诠镜却笮褪蜕a(chǎn)商的非核心銷售，或者其他規(guī)模較小的勘探開(kāi)發(fā)公司尋找合并伙伴。我們需要的只是大宗商品價(jià)格的穩(wěn)定，以及一兩宗作為基準(zhǔn)交易的收購(gòu)，以重振美國(guó)本應(yīng)活躍的交易市場(chǎng)?！?nbsp;

李峻 編譯自 世界石油網(wǎng)

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.”