Shell Buys $4.7 Billion Marcellus Shale Stake

America’s enormous natural gas reserves continue to attract the attention of some of the biggest global players in the energy business. Last December, Exxon-Mobil acquired one of the country’s leading natural gas producers, XTO Energy, for $41 billion. France’s Total bought a multi-billion-dollar stake in the Barnett Shale in January. And in February, Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co. made a $1.4 billion investment in the Marcellus Shale.

Now Royal Dutch Shell has acquired East Resources for $4.7 billion, a shrewd investment given East’s valuable leasehold rights in the Marcellus Shale totaling 650,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. According to the energy blog at Forbes:

The Marcellus is the biggest natural gas field in the United States, containing more than 500 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and stretching across three states. But in terms of development, the Marcellus is in its infancy. With the development of Marcellus shale gas that could grow to more than 13 billion cubic feet a day, and create more than 200,000 jobs in the process.