Australia's top investment bank, Macquarie Group, closed its London-based upstream oil and gas advisory division after a sharp drop in global deal making in recent years, banking sources said on Oct. 21.

The business, which oversaw the oil and gas production sector in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and which consisted of eight employees, was closed during the week of Oct. 17.

The banking sources said that three members of the upstream team will move to Macquarie Capital's midstream oil and gas investment service under Ed Winter. That division handles energy infrastructure such as pipelines and storage.

A Macquarie spokeswoman declined to comment.

The upstream banking desk was led up until last May by Jon Fitzpatrick, who left to establish advisory boutique Gneiss Energy together with other former Macquarie bankers, the sources said.

M&A activity in the sector outside the U.S. sharply declined following the oil price crash in mid-2014. International deals in the third quarter of 2016 reached $7 billion, the lowest level since 2008, according to consultancy 1Derrick.

Activity in the sector was nevertheless expected to pick up in the coming months amid a recovery in oil prices that narrowed the asset valuation gap between buyers and sellers.

Macquarie Capital's resources team, which is led by Raj Khatri, was a joint book runner in Hurricane Energy's 70 million pound share placment during this week. Hurricane Energy explores and produces in the U.K. North Sea.

Macquarie continues to have exposure to the oil sector through its commodities and financial markets team that runs hedging programs and reserves-based loans for companies.