-Oil and gas M&A value surged to its highest level since 2012 in the second quarter of this year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Without Shell’s $84 billion proposal to acquire BG Group, however, overall deal value would have been just slightly higher than the $18 billion in the first quarter of 2015, which was the lowest since at least 2008. The number of deals announced in the second quarter of 2015 was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2008. With oil prices not expected to reach $60 per barrel until next year, some analysts believe the oil and gas sector could see a new wave of M&As during the remainder of 2015.
-U.S. Justice Department lawyers are concerned that the proposed $34.6 billion merger between Halliburton and Baker Hughes could hurt competition in the oilfield services industry, Bloomberg reports. The department’s antitrust division has assigned a lawyer who recently helped win a case against American Express over merchant rules for credit cards to review the Halliburton-Baker Hughes deal. Halliburton would have to pay a breakup fee of 10% of the deal’s value to Baker Hughes if it is blocked on antitrust grounds.
-The EPA has proposed blocking oil and gas drillers from sending fracking wastewater to municipal treatment plants. Via FuelFix, Pennsylvania officials took similar action in 2011 due to concerns about the ability of municipal plants to remove bromides and other compounds from fracking wastewater. No municipal facilities are currently known to accept fracking wastewater, but drillers’ disposal options are running low due to heightened concern over the link between underground injection and earthquakes.
-NuStar Energy plans to build a new private marine loading dock at its terminal the Port of Corpus Christi to ship more Eagle Ford crude. Via the San Antonio Business Journal, the new dock will have capacity to load vessels at 30,000 barrels per hour. It is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2017.
-BASF will combine all of its global pigments activities into one business unit starting in January, the company announced today. BASF’s pigments business has 2,500 employees globally and recorded sales of approximately $1.1 billion in 2014. The new global business unit will be based in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
