Reliance sells US shale assets

Mumbai Oct 7: Reliance Industries has sold its stake in shale gas assets in Pennsylvania for $126 million.The company had acquired a 60 per cent stake in the upstream field in 2010 for $392 million as part of a joint venture with Carrizo Oil and Gas, which operated the field.

RIL yesterday has said that "its US subsidiary Reliance Marcellus II, LLC was divesting interests in certain upstream assets in north-eastern and central Pennsylvania."

"The assets, which are currently operated by Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc., were sold to BKV Chelsea, LLC, an affiliate of Kalnin Ventures LLC, for consideration of $126 million".

The assets produce mainly gas and are located in Susquehanna, Wyoming, and Clearfield County in Pennsylvania. The transaction is expected to be closed by December 2018.

The assets comprise of interests in 112 wells: 98 producing wells, 11 drilled and incomplete wells and three temporarily abandoned wells.

RIL has invested over $9 billion in the shale play in the US. However, lower volumes and poor pricing for gas from the Marcellus region led the company to write down the value of its investments here.