The fourth quarter of 2009 saw a significant increase in oil and gas deals from the quarter before, buoyed mainly by the $41 billion ExxonMobil Corp. acquisition of XTO Energy, according to a new report from PLS Inc.

and Derrick Petroleum Services.A total of $75 billion in mergers and
acquisitions was done over the quarter in 172 deals, up from $21
billion in 112 deals.

According to Brian Lidsky, managing director of research at PLS, the
ExxonMobil acquisition “gave the market and producers a large dose of
confidence.”After the ExxonMobil deal, Total SA and Chesapeake Energy
Corp. entered into a $2.25 billion joint venture in the Barnett Shale.

Stabilizing oil prices was a large impetus for the deal, as well as the
buyer’s market created by ailing balance sheets on traditionally strong
companies. Of the 172 transactions, 10 were worth more than $1 billion
— eight in oil and two in gas.

Four of those 10 deals were in the United States, which led all
countries with $53.4 billion in activity. The U.S. saw a huge increase
in the value of deals done from the third quarter to the fourth
quarter, rising from $4.3 billion to $53.3 billion, while the actual
number of transactions 46 to 60 did not increase that much.

Source: PRDomain

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