State-run oil explorer Oil India and Indian Oil Corporation today announced the acquisition of 30 per cent stake in Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas's Niobrara shale gas asset in Colorado for $85.2 million (around Rs 450 crore).
According to the details of the acquisition,Oil India will hold 20 per cent and Indian Oil 10 per cent in the company.
Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas is an independent energy firm engaged in shale plays in the US and the UK. Its operations span the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Niobrara shale plays.
Last September, state-run GAIL had acquired 20 per cent stake at Carrizo’s Eagle Ford shale acreage in south Texas for $95 million. The acquisition was GAIL ’s first shale gas asset in the US. GAIL and its partners are expected to invest up to $300 million over the next five years at the field. GAIL acquired the stake through its wholly-owned subsidiary GAIL Global (USA) Inc.
Similarly, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries (RIL) holds 45 per cent stake in Eagle Ford and 60 per cent stake in a Marcellus Shale gasfield through a joint venture with Carrizo.
RIL’s shale gas business in the US comprises three upstream joint ventures with Chevron, Pioneer Natural Resource and Carrizo Oil & Gas, and a midstream joint venture with Pioneer. Aggregate investments since the inception of these joint ventures stood at Rs 22,000 crore ($4 billion) as at the end of the first quarter of this financial year.