Top 20 US deals driven by shales, major oils and dramatic asset moves

• 14 of the top 20 US deals in 2010 were motivated by shale objectives with some of the largest deals (East, Atlas, Exco, Consol, Reliance) in the Marcellus.
• Apache’s purchase of BP’ Permian assets and SandRidge’s corporate acquisition of Arena were not driven by unconventional assets. While Concho’s acquisition of Marbob has some Avalon Shale hope.
• Energy XXI’s and Apache’s purchase of offshore assets from Exxon and Devon were somewhat driven by shales including Devon’s refocus and Exxon’s XTO commitment.
• Apache’s acquisition of Mariner’s deepwater assets was dramatic.
• The top 20 deals totaled $44.6bn or 59% of the total market. The 14 clearly shale deals totaled $32.6bn or 43% of the US total.