Oil & Gas Trackers Commentary July 2025
Q2 2025 Summary
Companies in the petroleum sector continue to deal with headwinds posed by a weaker U.S. dollar and rangebound oil prices (the WTI spot has stayed mostly within a USD 65 to 80 range on a trailing twelve-month basis from the end of July). Integrated companies in the Transition Tracker portfolios continue to adhere to a business-as-usual approach regarding investments with some exceptions. Exploration and Production companies in the Transition Tracker portfolios generally have met challenges and opportunities through corporate combinations and strategic asset sales and purchases through the year.
Quarterly and Year-to-Date Results
All Tracker portfolios had lower results than the broad equity market on a quarterly and year-to-date basis. The broad market as measured by the iShares MSCI ACWI ETF had +11.1% and +10.8% returns on a quarterly and year-to-date basis, respectively. Over the same respective periods, in the Integrated Trackers, Leaders had -0.6% and +5.3% returns and Laggards provided -3.9% and -2.3% results; E&P Leaders had +3.0% and -1.9% returns followed by E&P Laggards’ -10.3% and -19.5% results. All results are in U.S. dollar terms.
Integrated Oil & Gas Tracker
There were no changes to the constituents of the Integrated Leaders and Laggards portfolios in Q2, each with 9 companies per the trackers’ selection rules.
- The Leaders portfolio holds predominantly European companies, some of which, such as TotalEnergies, are investing in all energy technologies to take advantage of changing energy economics.
- The Laggards portfolio continues to be comprised of Canadian oil sands producers, some former national oil companies, and sub-major companies with lighter emissions targets.
As of the end of Q2 2025, the Integrated Laggards portfolio leads the Integrated Leaders portfolio since inception by a less than 1% margin.
Integrated Oil & Gas
Integrated Leaders Recap
The Integrated Oil & Gas Leaders had results of -0.6% for the second quarter of 2025.
Notable Leaders news included:
- Repsol continued to build its portfolio of new energy projects by taking a minority stake in Estonia-based Stargate Hydrogen to help accelerate the production of alkaline water electrolyzers.
- TotalEnergies and ENI made strategic partial sales of renewables and decarbonization projects. TotalEnergies sold 50% of a 604 MW renewables portfolio in Portugal to a group of Japanese financial institutions. ENI entered a period of exclusivity to sell 49.99 % of Eni CCUS Holding (which has two projects in the UK, one in the Netherlands, and rights to buy a project in Italy) to Global Infrastructure Partners.
Integrated Laggards Recap
The Integrated Oil & Gas Laggards had results of -3.9% for the second quarter of 2025.
Notable Laggards news included:
- Chevron completed its all-stock purchase of New York-based Hess Corporation.
- PKN Orlen of Poland continued to advance its transition strategy by issuing €600 million 7-year green bonds to support clean energy investment.
- Sasol of South Africa launched Ampli Energy JV with Discovery Green to supply South African businesses with month-to-month renewable power. The agreement brings Sasol’s access to secured renewables in South Africa to ≈ 920 MW. Discovery Green is part of Discovery Group, a financial institution in South Africa.
Exploration & Production Tracker
In Q2 2025, Veren, Inc. departed from the Laggards portfolio after its acquisition by Whitecap Resources. Oil sands developer MEG Energy Corp. of Canada, as the next in line per rank, joined for the duration of the quarter.
Each portfolio has eighteen constituents per the trackers’ selection rules.
As of the end of Q2 2025, the E&P Leaders portfolio significantly leads the E&P Laggards portfolio since inception (by more than 69% on a compound return basis).
Exploration & Production
E&P Leaders Recap
The E&P Leaders portfolio produced results of +3.0% for the second quarter of 2025.
Notable Leaders news included:
- Advantage Energy, via Entropy, its CCUS subsidiary, agreed to purchase interests in three Canadian carbon-storage hubs (two in Saskatchewan and one in Alberta).
- Santos Ltd. received a takeover proposal from a consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC. The combination will likely face some opposition from the Australian government based on concerns over energy security.
- Inpex’s large CCS project with TotalEnergies and Woodside, the Bonaparte CCS, was awarded Major Project Status by Australia. It is the first offshore CCS to receive such status. Per the Australian government, the qualification enables “strategically significant projects facing complex regulatory challenges to get extra support and coordinated approvals.”
E&P Laggards Recap
The E&P Laggards portfolio had results of -10.3% for the second quarter of 2025.
Notable Laggards news included:
- Chord Energy closed its merger with Enerplus. Enerplus’s fields were in the Williston-Basin (Bakken) with properties in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania.
- DNO ASA acquired Sval Energi Group from HitecVision, a Norwegian private capital group investing across the energy sector. Sval Energi’s fields in the North Sea strengthen DNO’s position in the area and balance its exposure to assets in Kurdistan, Iraq.
- EQT Corporation acquired upstream and midstream assets of Olympus Energy, a company active in the Marcellus and Utica shale gas regions.
