Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s largest oil producer, agreed to buy most of the assets of closely held East Resources Inc for US$4.7 billion in cash, expanding its portfolio of US unconventional gas deposits.
East Resources owns and operates more than 2,500 producing oil and gas wells in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Colorado and is actively exploring drilling programs in Wyoming, according to its Web site.
It has been operating in the Marcellus Shale Area for 25 years.
Companies from India’s Reliance Industries Ltd to Japan’s Mitsui & Co are spending billions of dollars on drilling to dislodge natural gas from shale — sedimentary rock composed of mud, quartz and calcite.
Shell expects its share of gas in total output to rise to 52 percent in 2012.
The acquisition is the second-biggest oil and gas deal this year, after BP Plc’s acquisition of deepwater assets from Devon Energy Corp for US$7 billion in March, according to Bloomberg data.
“We are enhancing our world-wide upstream portfolio for profitable growth, through exploration and focused acquisitions, and through divestment of non-core positions,” chief executive officer Peter Voser said in a statement yesterday.
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PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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