Royal Dutch Shell is officially moving out of the gassy Haynesville shale after selling its last package of acreage to a private Houston firm.
Houston-based Castleton Resources, which primarily focuses on the Haynesville in East Texas and Louisiana, will scoop up about 55,000 net acres from Shell that’s currently producing more than 100,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day. The companies are not revealing the sale price.
Shell previously sold most of its Haynesville position five years ago, but still had some piecemeal remaining acreage.
“The divestment is part of Shell’s ongoing strategy to optimize its shale portfolio and direct capital toward developing our high-margin assets located in the Permian, as well as in Canada and Argentina,” a Shell spokesman said in a prepared statement.
The deal increases Castleton’s Haynesville scale by about 40 percent. Castleton was founded three years ago when its private investment sponsor, Castleton Commodities International, bought a sizable Haynesville position from Anadarko Petroleum.
Tokyo Gas acquired a 30 percent stake in Castleton Resources two years ago and, through a new injection of capital with this deal, Tokyo Gas’ ownership of Castleton will rise to 46 percent.
Tokyo Gas is interested in acquiring more shale gas for sale on global liquefied natural gas markets, including in Japan.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.
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