Japan's Marubeni Corp. will pay privately-owned US producer Hunt Oil about $1.3 billion to acquire and help develop a 35% working stake in Hunt's 52,000 net-acre oil and natural gas play in the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, the company said Friday on its website.
Marubeni said the project has plans for several hundred wells to be sequentially drilled for five to 10 years. The company put total development costs, including acquisition of the stake in the play at about $1.3 billion. Marubeni also said it and Hunt have agreed to jointly acquire additional acreage in the Eagle Ford shale.
"The Eagle Ford oil and gas shale play currently produces high-quality light crude oil, and is one of the most attractive and promising shale oil and gas resource plays in the US," the company said in a statement. "We believe that this project, including future expansion and the potential new businesses associated with it, will become a solid base for Marubeni providing a strong cash flow and profit on the mid- to long-term basis. Our acreage position in the Eagle Ford is believed to be prospective, and Hunt, the operator of this project, has extensive experience and expertise in the development and operation of a number of oil and gas shale plays including the Bakken located in North Dakota in the United States."
"We will continue to expand our business by acquiring quality shale oil and gas assets in the US as well as other countries leveraging our experience and know-how gained through the Niobrara Shale Oil project and the Eagle Ford project," Marubeni said. "We strongly believe that the shale oil and gas play will be spreading all over the world."
The deal was first reported Thursday by Japan's Nikkei newspaper.
