A surge of mid-year asset and divestiture (A&D) activity has begun to lift the market from a quarter marked by hesitation and volatility. Following a slowdown in the second quarter caused by price swings and uncertainty, analysts and bankers are now anticipating a more active second half of the year.
Top North American Energy M&A Deals of 2025
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Buyers
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Sellers
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Value ($MM)
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US Basin/Play
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Stone Ridge Energy; Flywheel
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Terra Energy Partners
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N/A
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Piceance Basin
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Chevron
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Hess Corp.
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55,000
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Williston; Global
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Baker Hughes
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Chart Industries
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13,600
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N/A
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SLB
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ChampionX
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7,700
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N/A
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EOG
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Encino
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5,600
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Utica
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ONEOK
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EnLink Midstream
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4,300
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N/A
|
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Viper Energy
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Diamondback Energy
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4,260
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Midland Basin
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Diamondback Energy
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Double Eagle IV
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4,083
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Midland Basin
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Viper Energy Partners
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Sitio Royalties
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4,060
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Multi Region
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Coterra
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Avant Natural; Franklin Mountain Energy
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3,900
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Delaware Basin
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Keyera
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Plains All American
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3,700
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Canada
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MPLX
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Northwind Midstream
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2,380
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Delaware Basin
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|
Honeywell
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Sundyne; Warburg Pincus
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2,160
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N/A
|
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EQT
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Olympus Energy
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1,800
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Marcellus
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DNOW
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MRC Global
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1,500
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N/A
|
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Stone Ridge Energy; Flywheel
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ConocoPhillips
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1,300
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Anadarko Basin
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|
Diversified Energy
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Maverick Natural Resources
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1,275
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Multiple
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Citadel LLC
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Paloma Natural Gas
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1,200
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Haynesville
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Market Conditions and Investor Sentiment
According to Cristina Stellar, senior vice president and managing director of energy investment banking at BOK Financial, several deals initially planned for the second quarter were delayed. With commodity prices stabilizing, many of those transactions are expected to re-emerge in the latter half of the year.
After two years of sweeping consolidation across the Lower 48, large public companies such as ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum, Diamondback Energy, and APA Corp. are trimming non-core assets to reduce debt. At the same time, smaller public E&Ps and private operators are finding opportunities to expand in emerging or legacy basins that had seen less activity from the majors—such as the San Juan Basin and parts of the Midcontinent.
Some of the industry’s largest players, including Exxon Mobil, are also signaling that they remain open to new acquisitions even after completing major transactions in recent years.
Market Slowdown and Recovery
Deal activity slowed significantly during Q2. Baker Hughes rig data showed oil-directed drilling activity in the Permian Basin declined: horizontal oil rigs fell from 280 in early April to 231 rigs by Aug. 8, representing an 18% drop.
Total upstream M&A value fell by 21% quarter-over-quarter to $13.5 billion. This decline was driven largely by volatility in commodity and equity markets, which delayed launches of new deal processes. Despite this, some larger transactions helped support overall value, including:
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EOG Resources’ $5.6B acquisition of Encino in the Utica.
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Viper Energy Partners’ $4.06B merger with Sitio Royalties.
Volatility in markets raised a major yellow flag for M&A, slowing the pace of dealmaking.
Learn more about how the Permian continues to deliver value even as majors look beyond it.
Countercyclical Moves: EOG Leads
Few companies are positioned to pursue countercyclical acquisitions during market downturns. EOG Resources is one of those players.
On May 30, EOG announced a $5.6 billion deal to acquire Ohio Utica operator Encino Acquisition Partners from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Encino Energy. The transaction included $2.1 billion in cash and the assumption of $3.5 billion in debt.
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The acquisition adds 330,000 net acres across the Utica, including the volatile oil, wet gas, and dry gas windows.
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Encino’s 2025 estimated production is 235,000 boe/d, weighted 20% oil, 30% NGL, and 50% gas.
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The portfolio is 65% liquids overall, aligning well with EOG’s existing production mix.
You can read more about EOG’s $5.6B Encino acquisition and its impact on the Utica Shale here.
Natural gas was a key driver of the deal. With rising LNG export capacity and demand from power generation and data centers, analysts project a long-term price floor of $4–$5/Mcf once new projects are online.
“The expectation is that as we head into the fall and winter, gas prices could strengthen,” said Stephen Trauber, global head of energy and clean technology at Moelis.
Dan Pickering, CIO of Pickering Energy Partners, added: “EOG had the best balance sheet in the business. They had net cash and could take advantage of a seller that wanted cash.”
Divestitures Accelerate
Divestitures are reshaping the portfolios of many large players:
Sold its long-held Oklahoma portfolio to private E&P Flywheel Energy for $1.3 billion (expected close Q4 2025). This follows Conoco’s major Marathon Oil acquisition earlier in the year.
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Flywheel Energy / Stone Ridge Energy:
Building scale in natural gas basins. In spring 2025, the partnership acquired Piceance Basin assets from Terra Energy Partners for over $1 billion. Flywheel’s legacy is in the Arkansas Fayetteville Shale, where commodities trader Gunvor owns a 42% stake in a related holding company.
Expanded its Delaware Basin holdings with the $608MM purchase of APA Corp.’s northern Delaware assets, adding 13,320 net acres and 8,700 net royalty acres in New Mexico. These assets are forecast to produce 12,400 boe/d in 2025. PR also previously acquired a West Texas Delaware block from Occidental for ~$818MM.
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Occidental Petroleum (Oxy):
Since its $12B CrownRock acquisition in 2024, Oxy has divested:
$905MM minerals package in the DJ Basin to Elk Range Royalties.
~$950MM in non-core Permian upstream properties and Midland gas gathering assets.
Executed a record $4.45B dropdown of mineral and royalty interests to Viper Energy Partners, the largest transaction of its kind. Diamondback also sold $138MM of non-operated Delaware Basin interests to Riverbend Energy Group.
Explore how Diamondback raised guidance without adding rigs in this analysis.
New Investments in Overlooked Basins
M&A is returning to basins that had long been overlooked by major producers:
Acquired IKAV’s San Juan Basin portfolio for $787MM, providing gas-weighted inventory in the Mancos dry gas play.
Purchased Sabinal Energy’s Central Basin Platform conventional oil assets for $500MM. Mach plans to deploy a rig in the San Juan Basin in 2026.
Expanded in the Barnett Shale with a $370MM acquisition of Bedrock Energy Partners’ 97,000 net acres, producing 108 MMcfe/d (63% gas). The package includes 50 new drilling locations and 80 refrac opportunities.
As competition for top-tier drilling inventory intensifies in the Permian, Utica, and other leading basins, more companies are turning toward legacy plays and overlooked regions where deal valuations remain attractive.
Outlook
The A&D market is showing clear signs of recovery after a cautious first half of 2025. Activity is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year, driven by:
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Stabilizing commodity prices, particularly in natural gas.
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Capital discipline among majors, leading to divestitures of non-core assets.
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Private operators and smaller publics stepping into plays left behind by larger companies.
With 838 MMBOE in 2024 production across 27,813 wells from leading Permian operators like Diamondback, Occidental, APA, and Permian Resources, the basin remains the anchor of U.S. upstream activity. Yet the resurgence of deals in the San Juan, Barnett, Fayetteville, and Piceance highlights a broader trend: the U.S. A&D market is diversifying, and opportunities are emerging far beyond the Permian.
