Marubeni Corporation and Hunt Oil have reached a joint venture (JV) agreement whereby the Japanese company is acquiring 52,000 net acres for $1.3 billion. Hunt Oil is just the latest of many Eagle Ford Shale operators to sell a non-operated interest in their acreage. The $1.3 billion for 52,000 acres equates to a ~$25,000 per acre valuation undiscounted. The deal value will be split between an upfront payment and a carried interset in development of the play until the $1.3 billion is spent.

Hunt and Marubeni have combined interest in almost 150,000 acres and will jointly acquire additional acreage across the play. Hunt Oil operates wells or has operated a rig in Gonzales County, Karnes County, La Salle County, McMullen County, and Wilson County in our coverage area. We assume this deal covers much if not all of this area. Neither Hunt nor Marubeni disclosed the location of the JV's acreage.

Marubeni has positioned its energy and mineral resources business, including oil and gas exploration and development, as a strategically important business area, and has already been involved in projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea (U.K.), India, Qatar and the Niobrara Shale Oil (U.S.), which started its initial oil production in October, 2011. As the result of this Project, Marubeni’s total acreage for shale oil play is approximately 72,000 net acres, which makes Marubeni the largest acreage holder among Japanese firms.

Read the full press release at maurbeni.com