Keeping a scorecard on private equity these days is becoming a little like watching today’s professional sports. There’s more competition from more teams, the players are getting a lot bigger, and the sums involved are magnified relative to earlier years for those making it to the finish.

The good news is that there continues to be a strong appetite for energy investments. As one private-equity insider summed up: Interest in energy is “better than almost any other private-equity sector right now. Energy is on the agenda for folks. But there ...