This is your Hart Energy LIVE A&D Minute powered by the first Gulf of Mexico Energy Transformation Conference March 21 in Houston. 

More small and mid-sized market cap producers are focused on scaling up. A month after rebranding as Vital Energy, the company formerly known as Laredo Petroleum announced the acquisition of Driftwood Energy Operating’s Midland Basin acreage in a cash-and-stock deal worth roughly $214 million. Will this M&A trend continue?

Meanwhile, BP is focusing on growing its U.S. retail footprint — spending roughly $1.3 billion acquiring TravelCenters of America to expand its offerings for electrical vehicle charging, biofuels, renewable natural gas and hydrogen passenger vehicles and fleets. 

However, overall upstream deal-making value plunged between 2021 and 2022, while deal activity fell to the lowest level since 2005 and was down by 24% for the year, according to Enverus Intelligence Research. Occasional big-dollar transactions are becoming fewer and farther between with some exceptions. Instead, companies like Vital Energy are driving the deals as they seek to grow their drilling inventories and volumes. Will 2023 focus on more mid-sized deals or are some much larger announcements brewing?

That’s your Hart Energy LIVE A&D Minute powered by the inaugural Gulf of Mexico Energy Transformation Conference - save your seat before it sells out!

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