The oil and gas industry saw a faster pace of debt offerings in the third quarter compared to the rest of the year, with one bank remaining ahead of the pack in total debt deal credit value for the nine months ended Sept. 30.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch held on to its lead among financial institutions participating in oil and gas debt offerings after running eight deals in the quarter. Such deals brought the Bank of America Corp. company's debt offerings in the first nine months of the year up to 19 for a total deal credit of $2.71 billion.
Wells Fargo Securities LLC, MUFG Securities Americas Inc., RBC Capital Markets and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC held on to the second- through fifth-place rankings they had in the previous quarter.
Wells Fargo nearly doubled its total number of debt deals for the year in the third quarter, having completed 23 offerings in the first nine months for a total deal credit of $2.25 billion. The firm previously leapfrogged its peers, jumping from fifth place for debt deal credit in the first quarter to second place in the second quarter.
MUFG, RBC Capital Markets and J.P. Morgan each underwrote 21 deals in the first nine months, rounding out the top five firms ranked by deal credit for the year. MUFG and RBC Capital Markets each reached a year-to-date deal credit value of roughly $1.78 billion, while J.P. Morgan reached a total of $1.6 billion.
While firms took part in more debt offerings in the oil and gas sector, the industry only saw one common equity deal in the third quarter.
Barclays Capital Inc. worked on its first two oil and gas common equity offerings of 2019 in the third quarter, ranking in first place in terms of deal credit with a total of $652.2 million.
Completing the top five were Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse (USA) Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Wells Fargo, which did no common equity deal for the quarter.
No preferred equity offerings were completed in the oil and gas space from July to September. As a result, Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets retained their top spots with a year-to-date deal credit of $215 million each. Bank of America and Wells Fargo were still tied for third place, while UBS Investment Bank came in fifth.

