M&A in Australasia - 2026 Q1

(Originally published on March 1, 2026)

Q1 has seen five deals announced across Australasia, all of which were in Australia. Transaction values were disclosed for one deal, with a value of about US$66 million.

As this is Q1, the rolling deal count for 2026 stands at 5 deals with a total deal value of US $66 million (from the 1 deal with a visible value). By comparison, Q1 of 2025 saw 4 transactions with a total deal value of US $16.3 million (from two deals with a visible value).

New deals announced in Q1

It was a quiet start to the year, with all five deals then announced in March:

1. In early-March, Horizon Oil launched an off-market takeover offer for all shares in Cue Energy Resources. In parallel, it entered a pre-bid agreement with Cue’s largest shareholder, Echelon Resources, to acquire a 19.99% stake — securing an immediate strategic foothold ahead of the broader offer. Under the bid, Cue shareholders will receive a combination of cash and Horizon shares. We looked at the deal in more detail here.
2. In mid-March, JERA announced that it had entered into definitive agreements to divest its minority interests in two Australian integrated gas-to-LNG projects to MidOcean Energy, the LNG investment platform managed by EIG. The transaction sees MidOcean acquire JERA's interest in the Gorgon and Ichthys LNG projects, with the latter then sold on (see below). We looked at the deal in more detail here.
3. As a part of the above, MidOcean Energy announced that the Ichthys interest will subsequently be “transferred to an existing joint venture participant in the project”, which I assume would be INPEX. We also covered this here.
4. In mid-March, 3D Energi announced that it has received a buy-out notice from ConocoPhillips to commence the process for ConocoPhillips to purchase the 3D Energi's 20% participating interest in VIC/P79. This was issued after 3D Energi failed to meet cash calls for the Otway Phase 1 Drilling Program. There is no formal transaction announced as yet.
5. In late-March, INPEX announced that it has entered into a farm-in agreement with Daly Waters Energy to acquire stakes in its Beetaloo Basin acreage. We looked at the deal in more detail here.

The table below summarises the deals announced this quarter:

Deals that closed in Q1

From what I can see, there was one previously announced deal that closed this quarter

1. In late-December, Central Petroleum announced it had entered into binding Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with ADZ Energy to acquire an interest in two exploration permits and 24 retention leases in Victoria and South Australia.

Deals still pending completion

Including the five new deals this quarter, we now have fourteen announced deals waiting for completion, with the majority coming from deals announced in the last year.

I won't go through all of the deals, with thirteen of them from the last six months, but the ones older than this are:

1. The oldest deal (from 2022 so not shown above) is between Pilot Energy and Triangle Energy for the Cliff Head asset. The most recent news saw the completion of the payment for the onshore facilities, with the offshore payments still outstanding.
2. The next deal is the swap deal between Woodside and Chevron. The process is well on the way and licences have officially changed hands on the NOPTA website but there is no official completion announcement.

Questions and feedback

We have created this article through our own research and any opinions are purely our own. If you have any questions or feedback on the article then please leave a comment below, drop me a message, or email support.