U.S. midstream energy company spends $4.425 billion to acquire Brazos oil and gas assets

HOUSTON (ICIS) —— ONEOK, a leading North American energy midstream company, has officially finalized a major asset acquisition deal, purchasing all core assets of Brazos Midstream's Midland Basin acreage in the U.S. Permian Basin for $4.425 billion in cash, to comprehensively strengthen its natural gas processing, gathering and transportation, and chemical feedstock supply capabilities, and further solidify its core position in the North American energy and chemical feedstock markets. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The target assets for this acquisition have prominent value, including core infrastructure such as natural gas processing plants and a 700-mile gathering pipeline network, as well as long-term fixed-rate contract resources covering 600,000 acres, providing a solid guarantee for production capacity and revenue stability. According to the plan, by the third quarter of 2027, these acquired assets will add 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas processing capacity to ONEOK, greatly enhancing the company's ability to process and convert associated oil and gas resources in the basin.

Natural gas processing plants are key core facilities for chemical feedstock supply, which can efficiently separate and extract natural gas liquids (NGLs) such as ethane and propane from the raw natural gas associated with oil wells. Among them, ethane is the core raw material for U.S. ethylene production. This asset acquisition will help ONEOK greatly increase the extraction and supply scale of basic chemical raw materials such as ethane, directly enabling the stable operation of the North American olefin and downstream chemical industry chain.

Pierce Norton II, CEO of ONEOK, said that after the completion of this acquisition, the company will successfully secure a high-quality operating platform in the Permian Midland Basin. Relying on long-term contract support and high-quality resource endowments, it will unlock broad growth space. This layout not only expands the company's business scale in the core producing areas of the Permian Basin and improves the integrated energy operation system from wellhead to terminal, but also connects the entire value chain of natural gas and natural gas liquids, helping the company fully grasp the dividends of production capacity growth in high-quality U.S. oil and gas producing areas.

This transaction further highlights the strategic position of the U.S. Permian Basin as the core supply hub for North American chemical feedstocks. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. crude oil production reached a record high of 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025, with the Permian Basin accounting for 48% of the total output, making it the core driver of U.S. crude oil production growth. The large amount of associated natural gas produced from oil wells in the basin continues to drive the expansion of local natural gas processing capacity and has also become the core source of chemical feedstocks such as ethane.

As U.S. oil and gas production capacity continues to be released, North American midstream energy companies are accelerating asset integration and capacity upgrading. As early as August 2025, Enterprise Products completed the acquisition of Oxnard natural gas assets, and the industry consolidation trend is significant. In addition to deeply cultivating domestic production capacity, leading enterprises are also actively laying out export businesses to expand global supply channels for chemical feedstocks.

According to ONEOK's long-term plan, the company will jointly launch the Texas City Logistics Joint Venture export terminal project with MPLX in 2028, officially entering the natural gas liquids export market. The terminal is designed with a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export capacity of 400,000 barrels per day. After commissioning, it will realize the external export of high-quality North American chemical raw materials, further enhancing the supply influence of U.S. basic chemical raw materials in the global market.