U.S. oil and gas deals in the third quarter hit near $123 billion, the highest deal value since the third quarter of 2014.
Energy companies spent $122.8 billion, compared to the third quarter of 2014 when they spent $125.7 billion, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a major auditing and analysis firm.
The spending is five times the $24 billion in oil and gas deals announced in the third quarter of 2017, and a 73.2 percent increase over the 71 billion in deals made in the second quarter of 2018.
The analysis attributed the higher deal value to consolidation in the pipeline and storage sector of the oil and gas industry, with multiple companies combining their infrastructure subsidiaries into their corporate structures in deals valued at $80.7 billion.
Shale oil and gas deals totaled $19.2 billion, with West Texas’ Permian Basin taking the top spot with $11.5 billion in transactions.
