Royal Dutch Shell plc's decision to divest its stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited for US$3.3 billion (C$4.2 billion) meant that upstream sector divestments in Canada reached C$4.5 billion in May 2018.

The latest CanOils M&A report illustrates that this is the largest monthly total seen over the past 12 months in Canada. In fact, it is the largest total since March 2017, when deals in the oilsands mining sector alone raised C$32 billion. Analysis on this sale by Shell and its US$34 billion divestment program over the past three years is available in the report, which can be downloaded at this link.

Source: CanOils M&A Review, May 2018

Aside from this sale by Shell, last month also saw the completion of Canada’s only other +C$1 billion deal of 2018. Vermilion Energy Inc. finalized its C$1.4 billion acquisition of Spartan Energy Corp. on May 28, adding around 23,000 boe/d to its portfolio.

Outside of Canada, Suncor Energy Inc. completed a US$68 million deal in Norway to gain an interest in the Fenje development project.

The new report from CanOils looks at all deals and every M&A story worldwide that involved a Canadian oil and gas company in May, and also includes analysis on the 1,365 boe/d in assets put up for sale in Canada last month. The full report can be downloaded at this link.