The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. upstream segment fell last year to the lowest level since 2005, with buyers increasingly picky and targeting top-tier locations in larger deals, Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR) said in a new report this week. The value of the deals also dropped in 2022—13% year over year—to $58 billion, transacted across a total of 160 M&As. “While deal values are down just about 20% from pre-pandemic averages, the volume of deals has collapsed…