India's Reliance exits US shale gas biz

India’s Reliance Industries has exited the US shale gas business, it said on November 8 in a statement.

Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance, has signed an agreement with Delaware-based Ensign Operating III to divest its interest in certain upstream assets in the Eagleford shale play of Texas. A sale and purchase agreement was signed on November 5. The sale is at a consideration higher than the current carrying value of the assets, Reliance said.

“With this transaction, Reliance has divested all its shale gas assets and has exited from the shale gas business in North America,” the company said.

Reliance invested in various US shale gas assets between 2010 and 2013. It bought stakes in three exploration joint ventures with Chevron, Pioneer Natural Resource, and Carrizo Oil and Gas, and a midstream joint venture with Pioneer. Since 2015, it has gradually been divesting most of these positions.