Following its analysis through the end of August, our friends at Rystad today reports U.S. oil and gas M&A this year could surpass the $155 billion chalked up in 2023. With $100 billion already on the books in 2024, and another $46 billion in assets currently up for sale, buyers and sellers still have one-third of a year to make their final selections and bring them to the checkout counter. Within one week bridging the Labor Day holiday, two midstream operators have put their choices on the conveyor belt.  

Reese Energy Consulting is following the latest M&A news, starting with Voyager Midstream which just landed its first acquisition—this one, in the Haynesville stretching from Texas to La. The start-up, formed a year ago, set up offices in Houston and Midland where the two principals each call home, then set out shopping with an initial focus on the Permian. Then, a Phillips 66 divestiture plan happened along with the perfect asset up for grabs and an opportunity Voyager couldn’t resist.

For an undisclosed price rumored to be ~$200 million, Voyager is now set to sail with 550 miles of gathering pipe, 400 MCFD of cryogenic gas processing capacity, and 12 MBPD of fractionation capacity. But there’s more in this deal to include the Carthage trading and delivery hub that offers a series of intrastate pipelines to multiple markets south and northeast, including Gulf Coast LNG centers in Texas and La.

Speaking of firsts and the Gulf Coast, Houston-based Edgewater Midstream has found a diamond girl in the form of Shell’s Sinco refined products pipeline system in the Houston refining corridor for an undisclosed price. The Sinco system is comprised of a series of intrastate refined products pipe and the Colex East and West terminals connecting to the Deer Park Refinery.