Mitsui & Co. of Japan, a leading liquefied natural gas market participant and trader, confirmed the acquisition of shale-gas assets in South Texas with access to LNG export plants on the US Gulf Coast.
Mitsui said it purchased a 92 percent working interest in the Eagle Ford basin assets from a subsidiary of Silver Hill Energy Partners, a private company based in Dallas, Texas.
Net acres
The assets comprise 8,500 net acres known as the Hawkville field and with easy reach of the region’s LNG export cluster.
The confirmation statement from Mitsui on the acquisition did not include a value for the transaction.
“Additional gas production is expected from this asset with further development,” said the company.
The Eagle Ford acreage will be managed by a company subsidiary, Mitsui E&P USA.
“The subsidiary will develop and operate the asset, aiming for stable gas production of over 200 million cubic feet per day from the field,” Mitsui explained.
Mitsui stated that it was also promoting liquefaction and export of US natural gas to global markets and has methanol production businesses using natural gas as feedstock.
It has also increased its offtake from the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, operated by Sempra Infrastructure, and where the Japanese company has a 16.5 percent shareholding.
However, Mitsui’s LNG assets are global with holdings in the Middle East at liquefaction plants in Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
