RIL may invest in Chesapeake shale asset

Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s biggest company by market value, is considering investing in a Chesapeake Energy Corp shale gas asset, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The Indian energy explorer, controlled by Mukesh Ambani, has been reviewing the assets for some months, two of the people said, declining to be named before an announcement. Chesapeake, which has about 600,000 acres in the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas, is negotiating joint ventures with “a couple of different parties,” finance chief Marcus C Rowland said yesterday.

Reliance has bought three shale gas assets in the US this year, including a stake in acreages held by Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc and its partner for $392 million in August. The Mumbai-based company joins Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc in acquiring unconventional gas reserves in the US, where shale gas accounted for about 10 per cent of total output in 2008.

Reliance spokesman Manoj Warrier declined to comment, calling the matter speculation. Jim Gipson, a spokesman for Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake, declined to comment on Reliance’s plans or on the status of the joint venture talks for the Eagle Ford shale.

Shares of Reliance fell by 1.34 per cent to Rs 1,000.35 at the 3:30 pm close for trading in Mumbai. The stock has dropped 8.3 percent this year compared with a 11 percent advance in the benchmark Sensitive Index.

Reliance paid a combined $3 billion to buy shale-gas assets from Pioneer Natural Resources Co. in June in the Eagle Ford shale formation, and from Atlas Energy Inc in April in the Marcellus shale gas areas in central and northeast Pennsylvania.