FORT WORTH, Texas, April 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo Gas Co. paid $485 million for oil and natural gas interests in the Barnett shale play in Texas, Quicksilver Resources Inc. said.
Quicksilver said it will stay on as operator in a sale for a 25 percent interest in Barnett shale.
"We are very pleased to have Tokyo Gas as a partner to develop the full potential of our Barnett Shale asset base," Quicksilver President Glenn Darden said in a statement. "We look forward to a successful long-term relationship, which will benefit both of our companies."
Quicksilver said it holds 130,000 net acres of Barnett shale in northern Texas. It said about 60 percent of that acreage is in production.
The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's energy agency, said the Barnett shale play is considered one of the largest onshore natural gas fields in the country. It reports 12.7 tcf worth of gas production has come from the play since 1993.
A study by the University of Texas at Austin's Bureau of Economic Geology states Barnett shale production will decline from its 2011 peak of around 2 tcf per year to 900 billion cubic feet by 2030.
