Dealmaking in the U.S. oil and gas industry reached $105 billion in 2024 while the Permian lead the way. 2024 ranked as the third-highest annual total on record, according to new data from consultancy Enverus. Although that figure points to a vibrant mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape, the pace of deals tapered off in the latter part of the year. Some major buyers found fewer prime targets to pursue, and others took time to integrate their recent purchases before jumping back into the market.
Last year’s M&A volume, while robust, fell significantly behind the staggering $192 billion recorded in 2023—a year highlighted by ExxonMobil’s massive $60 billion merger with Pioneer Natural Resources. The Permian Basin remained the hot spot for acquisitions, but as opportunities in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico become more scarce, many companies are expanding their search to older shale regions.
Andrew Dittmar, a principal analyst at Enverus, foresees “some interesting surprises” in 2025, as operators explore plays and basins not typically at the top of the industry’s list and look outside the Permian. He notes that for prospective buyers still eyeing the Permian, the central question is whether any remaining assets can justify a high purchase price when factoring in both resource quality and potential expansion.
Smaller exploration and production firms (E&Ps) may find themselves looking beyond the Permian in places such as North Dakota’s Williston Basin or the Eagle Ford Shale in southern Texas. These mature areas are gaining attention because operators can use refracking—a technique akin to boosting an older well—to spur a relatively fast jump in output at lower costs than drilling a brand-new location.
Enverus reports that the total value of transactions dipped to $9.6 billion in the last quarter of 2024. Part of the slowdown stemmed from limited available assets, while some larger E&Ps paused their dealmaking to focus on folding in previously acquired operations. A prolonged shortage of high-quality targets might eventually push smaller players to cash out, spurring an additional round of consolidation.
In one of the largest deals of the fourth quarter, Coterra Energy bought Avant Natural Resources and Franklin Mountain Energy in the Delaware Basin for $3.95 billion combined. Another major transaction saw FourPoint Energy purchasing Ovintiv’s Uinta assets in Utah for $2 billion—a standout among recent private acquisitions.
Meanwhile, gas-centered deals stood out as a bright spot, quadrupling in value compared to 2023 and surpassing $20 billion for the first time in nearly a decade. Dittmar cites booming demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the rise of large data centers, and growing power generation needs as the main drivers likely to sustain this trend in the near future.
