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Oil, Gas Giants Poised for 2027 Investment, M&A Revival, Wood Mackenzie Says

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The global oil and gas industry is heading into 2027 with its strongest balance sheets in years, paving the way for a 5% rise in investments and a fresh wave of mergers and acquisitions as companies scramble to replenish reserves, Wood Mackenzie strategists said in a note on Thursday.

Surging prices and margins through 2026 have fueled accelerated deleveraging, leaving most major energy firms entering 2027 with gearing ratios below 20%.

Wood Mackenzie said that financial cushion provides critical optionality, but executives face a stark structural challenge.

Excluding Middle Eastern national oil companies, production across Wood Mackenzie's five peer groups is projected to decline by 31%, or 18 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, between 2030 and 2040.

"Balance sheets are in good shape," said Tom Ellacott, senior vice president of Corporate Research at Wood Mackenzie.

However, he noted that output is expected to decline. "But a 31% production decline between 2030 and 2040 means companies will have to manage rising tension between capital discipline and upstream portfolio renewal in 2027. That dilemma is the defining feature of the 2027 planning cycle."

Despite the pressure to spend, capital discipline is projected to hold firm, even with Brent crude trading above Wood Mackenzie's $73-per-barrel base case.

Reinvestment rates are forecast to average 50% of operating cash flow next year, while shareholder distributions will take up 43%, split between 32% in dividends and 11% in buybacks.

The consultancy firm said that the sector requires an average price of $55/bbl to break even after funding investments and dividends.

Companies will nevertheless need to brace for volatility. Under base-case assumptions, Wood Mackenzie said that operating cash flow in 2027 is forecast to remain 14% above 2025 levels.

The consultancy said a rally to $90/bbl would expand cash flows by an additional 18%, or $104 billion, whereas a drop to $50/bbl would wipe out 24%, or $138 billion, of operating cash flow, hitting US majors, large-cap US and global players the hardest with declines of up to 29%.

Upstream oil and gas investments continue to reclaim territory. Wood Mackenzie said that upstream's share of total capital expenditure has climbed eight percentage points since 2021 as spending on power and renewables, which peaked in 2024, continues to decline.

Two-thirds of upstream capital for the tracked peer groups is flowing into the Middle East and the Americas, where tight oil, deepwater projects, and liquefied natural gas serve as primary growth drivers.

Wood Mackenzie said that strategic partnerships between NOCs and international oil companies are picking up as firms navigate shifting geopolitics.

"Capital allocation constraints and the pressure to rebuild upstream portfolios for the next decade are already triggering more NOC-IOC partnerships and strategic ventures," said Neivan Boroujerdi, Head of Corporate NOC Analysis at Wood Mackenzie.

He added that geographic diversification, primarily toward the Americas, will be in focus.

Meanwhile, downstream strategies are mixed. Though refining closures continue in Europe and California, the tightness exposed in global systems during 2026 has forced a more cautious evaluation of exit timelines.

Near-term overcapacity in the petrochemicals sector is separating companies weathering the trough from those abandoning the sector entirely, with feedstock advantage acting as the primary dividing line.

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Oil & Energy

US Oil Update: Crude Sinks After Saudi Routes Cargoes Via Oman to Bypass Pipeline Disruption

Crude futures retreated in after-hours trading on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia offered additional crude cargoes to Asian refiners via Oman, easing concerns about attacks that disrupted a key pipeline carrying oil to the Red Sea.Front-month West Texas Intermediate futures tumbled 3.4% to $102.05 per barrel, while Brent futures were down 3% to $105.51/bbl.The US Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 600,000 barrels to 423.4 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 11, noting that crude inventories are 1% above the five-year average.The draw contrasted with a 7.1 million-barrel build reported by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.Gelber & Associates strategists said October WTI trades at $102.89/bbl as expectations for a faster partial restart of East-West Pipeline encourage traders to reduce the disruption premium built up during the recent rally.On the supply front, the growing tightness in diesel markets, including in the US, China and Russia, has raised speculation about possible US export controls on crude oil and refined products.Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, said diesel was showing a sharp divergence in performance, with the midmorning Wednesday gross refining margin for diesel in New York at $116.77/bbl.Kloza said the nationwide retail margin is 5.4 cents per gallon, about $2.27/bbl for fuel marketers and truck stops.The Trump administration is reportedly opposing a diesel export ban, saying the idea would do little to lower prices.ING strategists said that while a ban on refined products may offer some immediate price relief, it would weigh on refinery margins and eventually lead refiners to reduce run rates.Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is offering additional crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman's Sohar port, according to media reports.The arrangements allow Saudi crude to be transferred outside the Strait of Hormuz, providing an alternative route after damage to the East-West pipeline disrupted exports through Yanbu.US Energy Secretary Chris Wright also said the pipeline should be back in operation within days, although other estimates suggest repairs could take considerably longer.Kpler strategists said that the attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline marks another escalation in a conflict the global oil market cannot absorb indefinitely.The analysts said that without the East-West Pipeline, Saudi crude exports could ultimately fall by about 3.5 - 4 million barrels per day, depending on the severity and duration of the disruption.The Federal Reserve approved its first interest rate hike since July 2023, while indicating that another will come later in the year. The Fed increased its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points.

Oil & Energy

Orlen Reportedly Secures 16 Crude Cargoes As Saudi Supplies Face Disruptions

Poland's Orlen secured 16 additional spot crude cargoes in recent days, expanding supply from multiple global origins while maintaining uninterrupted refinery operations, the company said Thursday, according to multiple media reports.Orlen has bought spot crude from Norway, the UK, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and North and South America since Sept. 11, with deliveries fully meeting refinery demand, the reports said.Orlen's increased spot crude buying may help cover a supply gap after Saudi Aramco, its biggest European client, canceled or deferred some term crude deliveries following damage to its East-West pipeline.Last month, Equinor (EQNR) announced a three-year agreement with Poland's Orlen to supply crude from the Johan Sverdrup field on the Norwegian continental shelf.Orlen usually takes in crude cargoes of about 700,000 barrels, and the 16 additional shipments could cost almost $1.5 billion at physical oil prices near $130 per barrel, according to a Reuters report citing Kpler data and Reuters calculations.Orlen did not immediately reply to' request for comment.

$EQNR
Oil & Energy

Prolonged Refinery Disruptions May Keep Product Markets Tight Through 2027, Enverus Says

War-damaged refining capacity may remain offline longer than forward markets expect, keeping oil product markets and refining margins under pressure, Enverus Intelligence Research said in a Tuesday note.The conflicts in Iran and Ukraine have reduced available refining capacity and altered oil trade patterns, leaving product supplies tight as markets anticipate a quicker return to normal."The market is pricing a fairly rapid normalization in refining capacity and product balances through 2027, but the physical recovery may take much longer," said Al Salazar, director at EIR.EIR said forward prices treat the disruptions as temporary, but the damaged refining capacity could take significantly longer to recover than current market expectations indicate."Even if hostilities were to end soon, repair timelines suggest a meaningful portion of damaged capacity could remain offline well into next year," Salazar said.Refining capacity in the Middle East and Russia has taken a major hit, with about 7 million barrels per day affected. Routine turnarounds account for part of the roughly 11 million b/d currently offline.Tight product supplies have pushed refining economics higher, with the 3-2-1 crack near $67 per barrel and the distillate crack around $95/bbl, both among the highest levels in 16 years.EIR expects the recovery to stretch into late 2027, estimating that about half of the severely damaged refining capacity could still sit idle through Q4 2027.Repair work could extend for six to eight months after major refinery damage. Russian plants may face even longer delays if sanctions restrict access to equipment, parts and technical expertise.EIR expects refining margins to stay elevated through the second half of 2027 unless the Iran and Ukraine wars end early or weaker demand reduces pressure on product markets.Oil markets also face a storage challenge because backwardation makes it less attractive for traders to keep products in inventory, which could slow the stock rebuilding assumed in current prices."With inventories still tight and forward curves offering little incentive to rebuild stocks, we think refining margins could stay elevated for longer than the strip currently implies," Salazar said.