Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (8031.TO) Thursday became the first Japanese company to enter into a European shale gas project by agreeing to acquire a 9% stake in Polish exploration concessions from subsidiaries of Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO).
Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (8031.TO) Thursday became
the first Japanese company to enter into a European shale gas project by
agreeing to acquire a 9% stake in Polish exploration concessions from
subsidiaries of Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO).
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"
Poland
is
considered to be one of the most attractive shale gas potential areas in
Europe
,
where the development of shale gas by the major oil and gas companies is
expected to accelerate," Mitsui said.
Poland
could
have 5.3 trillion cubic meters of shale gas, equal to more than 300 years of
the country's annual gas consumption, according to the U.S. Department of
Energy. If it turns out to be economically viable to extract, shale gas would
reduce
Poland
's
natural gas supply dependence on
Russia
's OAO
Gazprom (GAZP.RS).
The 10 concessions, encompassing 2.1 million acres (850,000 hectares), are
located in a band spanning from north
Poland
to
its eastern border, according to a map enclosed in Mitsui's statement.
In a separate statement,
Marathon
said
it will hold a 51% working interest in these 10 concessions and serve as
operator. Nexen Inc. (NXY), another partner, owns a 40% working interest in the
concessions. The closing of the transaction is contingent on approval by Polish
government authorities and Nexen, Mitsui said.
"Seismic and other geological analysis, as well as drilling of exploration
wells to evaluate technical potential of the concessions will be carried out
over the next five years," Mitsui said.
Marathon
said its agreement with Mitsui "provides
further financial risk mitigation and aligns the company with another strong
partner as
Marathon
, Mitsui and Nexen prepare to
explore and evaluate the full potential of these concessions."
Mitsui said it is also conducting shale gas development and production
activities in the Marcellus Shale, in
Pennsylvania
, and
said with the "experience and knowledge acquired from this project, we
intend to expand our presence in the European gas market, which follows the
U.S.
gas
market."
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