Tokyo Gas buys stake in U.S. shale gas field

Japan’s Tokyo Gas said it has bought a 25 percent stake in a U.S. shale gas field located in the Webb and La Salle counties in south Texas.

Tokyo Gas America Ltd., a unit of Tokyo Gas Co, purchased the Eagle Ford shale gas assets from VirTex group.

It is the second time for Tokyo Gas to join a shale gas development in the U.S., following the Barnett shale gas venture in 2013.

The approx. 34,000 acre assets correspond to the 25% working interest in the joint project with Lewis Energy Group and BP, Tokyo Gas said on Tuesday.

The company estimates natural gas production from the shale gas field at 0.2 million mt per year. The produced gas is to be marketed in the US market.

Tokyo Gas Group will keep on developing its global business “proactively in order to expand the upstream business and build global LNG value chains,” the company added.