Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets emerged as the leading financial advisers for oil and gas sector mergers and acquisitions (M&A) during the first half of 2026 (H1 2026).

They ranked first in terms of value and volume, respectively, according to a league table from data analytics company GlobalData.

GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database shows that Goldman Sachs advised on deals worth $48.3bn.

Evercore was ranked second for deal value, having advised on transactions totalling $31.6bn.

JPMorgan followed with $25.6bn, while RBC Capital Markets handled $25.4bn worth of deals and Barclays was credited with advising on deals with a combined value of $12.6bn.

Meanwhile, in terms of volume, RBC Capital Markets handled 12 deals to take the top place.

Jefferies ranked second in volume with seven deals.

Moelis & Company took third position with six deals. Evercore and Houlihan Lokey followed with five deals apiece.

The rankings consider deals valued at $1bn or more.            

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “RBC Capital Markets was the top adviser by volume in H1 2025 and retained that position in H1 2026 as well. It was the only adviser to hit double-digit deal volume in H1 2026.

“Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs, despite advising on a much smaller number of deals, led by value in H1 2026 due to its involvement in some big-ticket deals. In H1 2026, it advised on three billion-dollar deals that also included two megadeals valued at more than $10bn.”

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.

To ensure further robustness of the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.