據美國鉆井網站2022年7月29日報道，總的說來，由于大宗商品和股票市場都出現了波動，對于談判并購交易來說，今年第二季度是一個具有挑戰性的季度。

這是能源咨詢公司Enverus Intelligence Research（EIR）在其對2022年第二季度美國上游并購活動的總結報告中指出的，該報告強調，盡管存在挑戰，但仍有大約120億美元的并購交易，“因為許多私募股權（PE）公司將其投資引入市場，希望在高油價和高天然氣價格中獲利”。  

根據EIR公布的數據，私募股權賣家約占第二季度美國并購交易價值的80%。其中二疊紀盆地在第二季度并購交易中貢獻了55億美元，占總金額的46%。多區域交易排名第二，32億美元，占總金額的27%，落基山脈排名第三，14億美元，占總金額的12%。

數據顯示，美國第一季度并購活動的總交易價值為147億美元，其中， 落基山脈在本季度貢獻了最多的資金，72億美元，二疊紀盆地第二，43億美元，東部地區第三，28億美元。根據數據，過去12個季度中最大的季度并購交易價值是在2021年第二季度，為348億美元，而最低的是在2020年第一季度，為6億美元。 

EIR主管安德魯·迪特馬爾在一份公司聲明中稱：“正如預期的那樣，大宗商品價格的飆升暫時阻礙了上游并購交易活動，因為買家和賣家在資產價值上存在分歧。”

“不過，高昂的并購交易價格也促使私人股本公司爭相試水并購。雖然并非所有進入市場的公司都獲得了他們認為合適的報價，但這足以推動適度活躍的上游并購交易活動。”迪特馬爾在聲明中補充道。

迪特馬爾說：“多年來，公開市場一直保持著一種趨勢，即基本上不允許私營勘探與生產企業進行傳統的首次公開募股，這使得并購活動成為主要的退出途徑。“上市公司有收購私人勘探開發公司的意愿，但上市公司需要保持這些交易的估值與市場對其股票的定價一致或低于市場對其股票的定價。由于勘探開發股票估值仍不高，在許多情況下，可能沒有太多提高報價的空間。”迪特馬爾如是說。

今年4月份，Enverus指出，美國上游并購活動在今年開局強勁，并補充說，今年1月的60億美元并購交易是5年來最強勁的并購市場啟動。  

迪特馬爾當時在一份公司聲明中表示：“所有使上游并購交易在2021年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、現成的私人賣家和優惠的定價。然而，能源價格波動導致3月份幾乎所有上游并購交易陷入停滯，迪特馬爾在聲明中補充道。

今年2月底以來，原油價格多年來首次突破每桶100美元大關。 

李峻 編譯自 美國鉆井網站

原文如下：

Q2 Challenging for USA Upstream Merger Activity

Overall, Q2 was a challenging quarter for negotiating deals as volatility roiled both commodity and equity markets.

That’s what Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR) stated in its summary of 2Q 2022 U.S. upstream M&A activity, which highlighted that, despite the challenge, about $12 billion was transacted “as numerous private equity (PE) firms brought their investments to market looking to cash in on high oil and gas prices”.

According to EIR, PE sellers accounted for about 80 percent of the quarter’s deal value. A chart showing U.S. deal value by region over the past 12 quarters, which was included in the summary, showed that the Permian contributed $5.5 billion, or 46 percent of the total, in Q2. Multi-region deals came in second with $3.2 billion, or 27 percent of the total, while the Rockies came in third with $1.4 billion, or 12 percent of the total, according to the chart.

Q1 saw a total deal value of $14.7 billion, the chart highlighted. The Rockies contributed the largest amount during the quarter with $7.2 billion, the Permian was second with $4.3 billion, and the Eastern region was third with $2.8 billion, the chart outlined. The largest quarterly deal value during the past 12 quarters came in 2Q 2021 at $34.8 billion, while the lowest was in 1Q 2020 at 0.6 billion, according to the chart.

“As anticipated, the spike in commodity prices that followed the war stalled M&A as buyers and sellers disagreed on the value of assets,” EIR Director Andrew Dittmar said in a company statement.

“High prices, though, also encouraged a rush by PE firms to test the waters for M&A. While not everyone that is going into the market is getting what they deem to be a suitable offer, enough are to drive modestly active upstream M&A,” Dittmar added in the statement.

“Public equity markets are retaining a multi-year trend of being essentially closed for private E&Ps to launch a traditional IPO … That leaves M&A as the main exit route. There is appetite on the public company side to buy out private E&Ps, but public companies need to keep the valuation paid on these deals in line or less than where the market is pricing their own stock. With E&P equity valuations still modest, in many cases there may not be much room to raise offer prices,” Dittmar went on to state.

Back in April, Enverus noted that U.S. upstream M&A opened strong in 2022, adding that the $6 billion transacted in January 2022 was the strongest M&A market launch in five years.

“All the factors that kept upstream deals resilient in 2021 carried over into the new year,” Dittmar said in a company statement at the time.

“That included a need for inventory by public companies, ready private sellers and favorable pricing. However, the volatility in energy prices,” Dittmar added in the statement.

Oil soared past $100 per barrel for the first time in years back in late February as Russian forces escalated a conflict with Ukraine.