Enverus, a firm that provides analytics, reported on Wednesday that the amount of deals in the U.S. oil and gas sector upstream jumped to $38 billion during the first quarter this year. This was the highest quarterly figure in two years. Last week, Devon Shale Producers and Coterra, a smaller competitor to Devon, closed their merger after first announcing the plans in February. This deal, valued at $25 billion, took up the majority of Q1’s dealmaking.
The first Global Research report zeroes in on Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale, highlighting its world-class productivity yet revealing that M&A buyers are acquiring assets at valuations well below those seen in U.S. shale basins. According to Enverus, deals imply buyers are paying about $1 million per undeveloped well location, compared with approximately $4 million for U.S. shale locations of similar quality.
Upstream M&A decelerated in the second quarter of 2025, with value falling 21% quarter-over-quarter to $13.5 billion, according to Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR) summary of Q2 2025 upstream M&A activity and outlook for the rest of the year. EIR analysts say this is the second lowest quarterly deal value since the start of 2024 and placed 1H25 M&A value at $30.5 billion, a 60% drop compared to the first half of 2024.
The size of the U.S. oil and gas deals has hit a record $51 billion during the first quarter of 2024, data provider Enverus said.