How Are Independent Oil Companies Doing? July 22, 2015

From the EIA today:

The second quarter of 2015 exhibited the largest amount of oil companies' merger and acquisition (M&A) activity by value since fourth-quarter 2012.

The announced merger between Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group in early April accounted for $84 billion of the $115 billion quarterly total.

Without the Shell-BG merger, however, the value of deals in the second quarter of 2015 would have totaled $31 billion, $18 billion higher than first-quarter 2015, which was the lowest since at least 2008.

The 137 deals announced in the second quarter was the lowest number of deals since fourth-quarter 2008 and 42% below the 235 median quarterly number of deals over the previous two years, indicating less breadth of activity. --- EIA

That was my perception; nice to see it confirmed.