Marathon Oil Corp. said Monday it will pay $10 million to enter the Eagle Ford shale formation, making it the latest major oil company to acquire a position in the emerging oil and natural gas area in South Texas.
Under a deal with Houston's Denali Oil & Gas, Marathon, also based in Houston, will gain access to 17,000 acres in Wilson and Atascosa counties and agreed to drill and complete four wells.
The company also has an option to buy Denali's additional 58,000 acres in the two counties, which would bring the total purchase price to $209 million. Marathon has until Oct. 31 to decide on the option.
Last December, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced a $41 billion deal to acquire Fort Worth shale producer XTO Energy. Since then, rivals Shell and Chevron have also announced multibillion-dollar deals to enter North American shale plays, and state-owned firms including France's Total and China's Cnooc have acquired U.S. shale positions.
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