Oil and gas PE deals tumble as new platform buyouts dry up

Oil and gas PE deal count fell 60% quarter-over-quarter in Q2 to just 16 deals, worth $3.4 billion, as investor confidence was hit amid ongoing price volatility.

Of the deals made, just three were new platform buyouts, according to PitchBook's Q2 2026 Oil & Gas Report.

The rest were secondary buyouts, tuck-ins or carveouts, with firms managing existing holdings rather than deploying fresh capital.

According to the report, the supply shock caused by the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn OECD government oil inventories down by 163 million barrels to their lowest level since 1990.

At the same time, the UAE ended its OPEC and OPEC+ membership on May 1. Now, a widening Red Sea conflict threatens the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal and the SUMED pipeline—routes carrying crude and LNG into the Mediterranean.

The largest deal was CPP Investments' $1.2 billion growth investment in Texas-based gas and LNG platform Caturus.

Paris-headquartered Antin Infrastructure Partners secured the third-largest spot on a table of North American-dominated transactions, with its $164.5 million acquisition of Texas-based Sapphire Gas Solutions, bought from Apollo funds through Flagship Fund V.

The $39 billion in M&A deal value marked a 20.3% QoQ drop. On an annualised basis, 2026 deal value is tracking 10% ahead of 2025, suggesting consolidation activity is holding steady, if not accelerating.

The three largest M&A transactions of the quarter—Shell's $16.4 billion purchase of ARC Resources, GFL Environmental's $4.6 billion acquisition of Secure Energy Services, and Keyera's $3.9 billion buy of Plains Midstream Canada—all involved companies headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.

European assets drew only a handful of smaller deals: a $108.3 million oilfield services buyout of Motortech, a $212.6 million exit from Enhanced Drilling and a $130.4 million downstream exit from ISAB.

Shell's April acquisition of ARC Resources added 1.5 million net acres adjacent to its existing Groundbirch asset, which feeds LNG Canada, the Pacific coast export terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Sep. 17 that Canada could contribute LNG and hydrogen "at large scale" to support Europe's energy security, pointing to new port infrastructure in the high north and on Canada's east coast.

This article originally appeared on PitchBook News