Deals worth $37.6 billion were signed in the month of December alone.

Global oil and gas deals in the fourth quarter of 2019 were down by 2.4 percent when compared to the third quarter.
Reportedly, the quarter also witnessed a 34 percent drop in the number of deals when compared with the last four-quarter average of $119.37 billion.

A total of 523 global oil and gas deals were signed during the period, which is a drop of 12.4 percent when compared to the last four-quarter average of 597 deals.

A majority of the deals in the fourth quarter were signed in North America which amounted to $43.95 billion.

According to GlobalData, some of the major deals signed during the fourth quarter include Hess Midstream Partners’ $6.2 billion acquisition of Hess Infrastructure Partners, Total’s $5 billion asset transaction with Apache, the $4.51 billion acquisition of Hitachi Chemical by HC Holdings and Showa Denko and Lone Star Funds’ private equity deal with BASF Construction Chemicals for $3.52 billion.

EY’s oil and gas transaction review revealed that global oil and gas deal volume and deal value were down by 17.7 percent and 10.8 percent respectively in 2019.

Andy Brogan, the EY Global Oil and Gas Leader said in a statement, “The oil and gas deal environment continues to reflect uncertainty, as the industry redefines its role and the value of its assets in the face of the growing transition to low-carbon and no-carbon energy.”

“Despite this upheaval, we see an environment in which asset attrition outruns whatever reductions there might be in demand. This means the industry will need to attract capital and offer returns that support continued investment.”

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Using chat applications is one method that is increasingly used by millennials to discuss their investments with advisors.

Oliver Wintle, Associate Wealth Management Analyst at GlobalData, said: “One issue with ‘chat applications’ however, is that the wealth management firm does not own the data—the third-party messaging service does. In addition, if the advisor leaves the company so does theirconversation history with the client.”

However, email remains one of the key forms of communication between wealth managers and investors. In fact, the 2018 Mass Affluent Investors Survey suggests its use has been increasing: between 2017 and 2018, the proportion of investors communicating with their advisor via email form increased by 10 percentage points.

Wintle continues: “Despite this, email is not ideally suited to client-advisor communication. For instance,  if at any point the client clicks ‘move to spam’ on an email, all future communications will follow the same path and end up in the recipient’s spam folder—stripping a company of engagement with the client. Consequently, wealth managers should focus on other communication channels.”

There is willingness for investors to communicate with their wealth managers via chat applications. It is important that wealth managers embrace this change. To tackle compliance and data ownership challenges, they should seek to include chat features in their core online and mobile platforms. Partnering with third-party IT vendors such as ‘Moxtra’ may be one solution.

Wintle adds, “Wealth managers must make sure their chosen communication channels are not easily ignored by clients. Increased engagement will undoubtedly result in better customer retention—but also a higher level of client involvement with their portfolio.”

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GlobalData’s latest report: ‘Q4 2018 Global Oil and Gas Discoveries Review – Russia and Colombia Lead with Highest Number of Discoveries’ reveals that globally 23 oil and gas discoveries were made in Q4 2018 comprising, 13 conventional oil and 10 conventional gasdiscoveries, with no unconventional discoveries in the quarter.

Regionally Asia leads with seven discoveries, followed by Europe and South America with fourdiscoveries each. The Former Soviet Union (FSU) had three discoveries, with North America and Africa having two discoveries each in the quarter. Oceania had only one conventional oildiscovery during the same period.

In terms of terrain, onshore accounted for the most with 13 discoveries, followed by shallow water followed with five discoveries. Ultra-deepwater and deepwater accounted for three and two discoveries, respectively.

Two of the oil and gas discoveries in Russia were made in the shallow water terrain and one discovery in onshore terrain, while all three discoveries in Colombia were made in the onshore terrain.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst, at GlobalData, said: “Russia’s two natural gas discoveries, Obskoye North (Severo-Obskoye) and PO-1, were made in the West Siberian basin and an oil discovery, Triton, was made in the Okhotsk basin. All three conventional oil discoveriesin Colombia, Acorazado-1, Danes-1, and Indico-1, are in the Llanos Orientales basin.”

The following operators: Eni SpA, Equinor Energy AS, OAO Novatek, and Oil India Limited led with two discoveries each in Q4 2018.

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The company’s report: ‘H1 2019 Global Oil and Gas Upstream Capital Expenditure Outlook by Key Countries and Companies to 2025 – Shell Leads New-Build Upstream Capex Outlook among Companies’ reveals that Gazprom and Exxon Mobil Corp are the next top spenders with new-build capex of US$49.8bn and US$43bn, respectively.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Shell has spread its new-build capex for the development of 60 upcoming upstream projects. This will further aid the company to expand its scale, and increase production and cash flows.”

GlobalData identifies Canada, Russia, and the US as the top countries in terms of new-build capex to be spent on planned and announced upstream projects during the outlook period. Canada tops the list with capex of around US$107.7bn. Russia and the US together will spend around US$143.8bn on planned and announced upstream projects, from 2019 to 2025.

Globally among the planned and announced upstream projects, Golfinho-Atum Complex in Mozambique has the highest capex spending of US$16.8bn between 2019 and 2025. Voyageur South (Suncor Energy Inc.) project in Canada, and Mamba Complex project in Mozambique follow with an estimated capex spending of US$15.8bn and US$14.8bn, respectively during the outlook period.

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“However, despite the positive statements regarding the potential resource size of up to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent in this discovery and the four nearby prospects, previous upstream projects in South Africa have been technically challenging to develop. The geology in the area is very complex and it is in a harsh deep water environment. Projects such as Ikhwezi and Ibhubesi have undergone delays and reserve write-downs due to these difficulties.

“Offshore production of gas is supplied to the Mossel Bay GTL refinery, which is one of the primary revenue generators for PetroSA. Over the past few years it has struggled to source the necessary gas to continue operations and has been using more costly condensate imports. With existing gassources declining rapidly, additional supply of around 200-300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) by the early 2020’s is required to continue operations at the refinery. Natural gas is also used in other synfuel plants manufacturing and power generation, although most of the gas turbine power plants, with total capacity for 300-350 mmcfd, are running on liquid fuels due to lack of gas supply.

“The Brulpadda discovery could have a similar impact on South Africa as the Zohr discovery did in Egypt. At the time of the Zohr discovery, Egypt was starting to plan for a future where the domestic gas production would not be enough to keep up with local demand for gas. Currently South Africa imports gas from Mozambique and plans have been suggested for up to three new LNG regasification facilities to allow more imports into the country. Compared to other nearby gas discoveries that face significant delays, such as the Kudu development in Namibia or the giant fields in Mozambique and Tanzania, Brulpadda would be able to tap into a pre-existing local market where the infrastructure and demand is already present.”

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The company’s latest report reveals that out of the 82,438 HNW entrepreneurs in Australia 6,733 (or 8.2%) are female but according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor women constitute 39% of Australians starting a new business. Therefore, female entrepreneurs with a need for bespoke financial services represent an attractive opportunity for wealth managers especially as there are fewer dedicated products being offered to this demographic.

Heike van den Hövel, Senior Wealth Management Analyst at GlobalData, says: “If just 1% of these female entrepreneurs move all the way up to the HNW segment, this would equate to 750 new HNW female entrepreneurs – a considerable opportunity for wealth managers.”

In addition, given the above-average age of the male HNW population (compared to the wider region and the female segment), it is likely that many current male business owners will be handing over responsibility or ownership to their spouses in the coming years, bringing more women into the HNW bracket through inheritance.

Competition to appeal to female HNW individuals looking for finance or investment services is fierce, with the vast majority of wealth managers reaching out with designated programs.

Van den Hövel explains: “In a crowded market, differentiation is key. This means wealth managers that are able to reach out to female HNW entrepreneurs with a targeted service proposition – providing access to business loans, start-up capital, and networking opportunities – at an early stage will find a comparatively lucrative and untapped market.”

Westpac is one of the few players in Australia with a unit exclusively dedicated to supporting women and female entrepreneurs.

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