[Correction 07-22-25. I messed up. Hess Midstream LP is still publicly-traded. I misread the SEC filing. Chevron did close on the Hess deal as described. Chevron now controls the General Partner that runs Hess Midstream. It owns 100% of the class B shares, but effectively only 37.8% of the publicly-traded Class A shares.

The decline of the publicly-traded Master Limited Partnership is another reason why the number of public companies in Houston has fallen, At some point, Chevron may take steps to delist Hess Midstream]. 

Houston lost two more public companies last week as two deals announced long ago finally closed. This continues the trend that has taking place for the past few years. There are now 171 public companies in the Houston-area. At one point in 2021, it was almost 200.

The drop is primarily due to consolidation in the oil and gas sector, though the number of SPACs (also called blank check companies) has also fallen.

Hess Midstream LP

Chevron closed its $55 billion deal to buy Hess after winning its arbitration dispute with ExxonMobil. The acquisition was originally announced in October 2023. Although Hess had its headquarters in New York, it also controlled Hess Midstream, which was publicly-traded and based in Houston. Chevron, which relocated its head office from California to Houston last year, has now delisted Hess Midstream.

ExxonMobil and China’s CNOOC were Hess’ partners in an large offshore development in Guyana. The partners had filed an arbitration claim that Chevron’s acquisition of Hess gave them the right to purchase Hess’s stake in the development. The dispute had delayed closing of the deal for over a year. Last week, the International Chamber of Commerce sided with Chevron.

Hess’s earnings from Guyana were $3.1 billion in 2024.

ChampionX

Schlumberger (‘SLB’) closed on its deal with ChampionX, based in The Woodlands, for $7.8 billion. That deal was originally announced in April 2024. In order to gain acceptance from the UK regulatory authorities, SLB agreed to sell its chemical technologies business in the UK and ChampionX agreed to sell its equity interests in US Synthetic. For the latter, a deal had already been announced in February to sell the business to a PE firm for $300 million.

Stem

Houston did pick up one public company recently. Stem, market cap $112 million, moved its head office from San Francisco to the Galleria area. The company develops software and services to enable its customers to operate clean energy assets.

In January, Stem announced that Arun Narayanan would become its new CEO. He is based in Houston and spent 21 years at Schlumberger. Stem has not been profitable since being taken public by a SPAC in 2021. In April, the company announced a 27% reduction in workforce.

You can see the complete list of Houston-area public companies here.