China Takes on More U.S. Shale Reserves

A subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corp. said it was spending $1 billion to buy half of rival Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s oil and gas acreage in Oklahoma.

Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. said it was taking on half of Chesapeake's shale reserves in a deal described by China's official Xinhua news agency as one of the largest such acquisitions by a Chinese company.

"We are excited to announce the execution of our Mississippi Lime joint venture with Sinopec, which moves us further along in achieving our asset sales goals and secures an excellent partner to share the capital costs required to actively develop this very large, liquids-rich resource play," Chesapeake Chief Operating Officer Steven Dixon said in a statement.

Chinese companies are looking to tap into U.S. expertise in shale developments for domestic development. Sinopec in 2011 paid $2.2 billion for access to five shale plays in a deal with U.S. company Devon Energy Corp.

Chesapeake said production from the Mississippi Lime formation and similar assets in northern Oklahoma was around 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the fourth quarter of last year.

"There was approximately 140 million barrels of oil equivalent of net proved reserves associated with the assets," the U.S. company added.