Total joins US shale play rush

Drilling ahead: in the Barnett Shale

DEVON ENERGY

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Anthea Pitt

 26 January 2010 12:34 GMT

French giant Total has become the latest big-name player to enter the US' unconventional onshore play, shelling out $2.25 billion for a 25% slice of gas player Chesapeake Energy's Barnett Shale assets.



Chesapeake said the move, which sees the pair form a joint venture, has now been finalised.

The assets in the joint venture include about 270,000 net acres of leasehold in the Core and Tier 1 areas of the Barnett, roughly 700 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day of current net production and about 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent of proved reserves.

Total paid Chesapeake $800 million in cash at closing and will pay a further $1.45 billion over time by paying for 60% of Chesapeake’s…

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