RIL may pick up 40 pc in Pioneer's shale gas assets

Reliance Industries is close to buying up to 40 per cent stake in shale gas assets owned by the Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co.

Reliance Industries is close to buying up to 40 per cent stake in shale gas assets owned by the Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co.

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Pioneer has about 3,10,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas, US, and Reliance is in talks to buy up to 40 per cent interest in them, a source in know of the
development said today.

Reliance spokesperson did not offer any comments.

The company had made its first breakthrough in the US in April when it had acquired 40 per cent stake in Atlas Energy Inc's 3,00,000 acres shale gas property for USD 1.7 billion.

Atlas' Marcellus shale gas project spans parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.

Flush with revenues from its KG-D6 Gas field back home, the Mukesh Ambani-run petrohcem has been on the lookout of acquisitions in the US.

Pioneer's Eagle Ford Shale play has a gross resource potential of over 11 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Shale gas is natural gas stored in organic-rich sedimentary rocks. It is considered an unconventional source as the gas may be attached to or "adsorbed" onto organic
matter. The gas is contained in difficult-to-produce reservoirs that require special completion, stimulation and/or production techniques to achieve economic production.