The U.S. energy industry’s midstream sector has experienced an extraordinary consolidation over the past few years. This undeniable trend has been driven by the widely held (and sensible) view that the winners in the industry’s next era will be the midstreamers with massive scale and the right assets in the best places. As evidenced by the extension of this buying spree into 2025, there’s still a lot more reshuffling to do. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss a few of the latest midstream deals in the Permian, the Eagle Ford and the Bakken, as well as highlights from our new Drill Down Report on midstream M&A.
As we said in our last Drill Down Report on the topic (in late 2023), acquisitions in the upstream sector — by E&Ps plus major integrateds like ExxonMobil and Chevron — grab most of the headlines. But there’s also been a lot of M&A activity in the midstream space as the companies that gather, process, transport, store, and export hydrocarbons seek to gain the scale, scope, and synergies they think they will need to succeed in an increasingly competitive industry.
As in our report on midstream M&A in 2022-23, many of the midstream deals announced in 2024 and early 2025 involved the acquisition of companies with extensive holdings in the Permian, which is by far the U.S.’s top crude oil production area and also a major supplier of natural gas and NGLs. Rising Permian production over the past few years spurred a massive buildout of midstream infrastructure — including gathering systems (for crude, associated gas and produced water), gas processing plants, takeaway pipelines (for crude, natural gas and NGLs), storage facilities, fractionators, and export terminals. While a significant portion of that midstream development was undertaken by large publicly held companies or master limited partnerships (MLPs), many other vital projects were developed by privately held midstream companies backed by private equity. In the post-COVID era, with many publicly held companies looking to gain further scale and scope — and many private-equity-backed midstream companies looking to cash in on their well-timed, well-planned developments — it could be argued that conditions for large-scale midstream M&A have never been better.
For proof, consider five noteworthy deals announced so far in the new year — three by Plains All American and one each by Phillips 66 (P66) and Kinder Morgan. We’ll start with P66, which announced January 6 that it had reached an agreement to acquire EPIC NGL — or, more specifically, EPIC Y-Grade GP LLC and EPIC Y-Grade LP, two entities that own a set of significant NGL-related assets between the Permian and Texas’s Gulf Coast — for a total of $2.2 billion. The deal, which is expected to close later this year, will give P66:
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About the song
“Combination of the Two” was written by Sam Andrew and appears as the first song on side one of Big Brother and the Holding Company’s second studio album, Cheap Thrills. The album was presented as a live album recorded at Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, but in fact was recorded live in the studio at Columbia Studio B in New York City and at Columbia Studio in Hollywood. The only live song on the album is “Ball and Chain,” which was recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in March 1968. Audience sounds from the Fillmore were used in the mix of the LP. Bill Graham introduces the band as they go into “Combination of the Two.” The psychedelic R&B song features Sam Andrew on lead vocals and the splattering fuzz lead guitar work of James Gurley on his Les Paul Special. Personnel on the record were: Sam Andrew (lead vocal, rhythm guitar), James Gurley (lead guitar), Janis Joplin (backing vocals, guiro), Peter Albin (bass, backing vocals), and Dave Getz (drums).
Cheap Thrills was recorded in the spring of 1968 at Columbia Studios in New York City and Hollywood and at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Produced by John Simon, the album was released in August 1968 and went to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified 2x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. One single, “Piece of My Heart,” was released from the LP.
Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the burgeoning San Francisco psychedelic rock scene. After becoming the house band at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, original members Peter Albin, Sam Andrew, James Gurley and Dave Getz, through their manager Chet Helms, hooked up with Janis Joplin as their lead singer. After their stellar performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, Clive Davis offered them a recording contract with Columbia Records. After recording two albums with the band, Joplin left for a solo career. She released one studio album before her death in October 1970, and one studio album posthumously. Big Brother and the Holding Company have released six studio albums, nine live albums, and seven singles; 19 members have passed through the band since its formation. James Gurley died in 2009, and Sam Andrew died in 2015. Original members Peter Albin and Dave Getz continue to tour as Big Brother and the Holding Company with various touring musicians.
