LONDON, March 1 - BP Plc (BP.L) will form a joint venture with privately owned Lewis Energy to exploit Lewis's Eagle Ford shale gas assets in Texas, in a deal worth about $200 million, a source familiar with the matter said.
The transaction is small by the standards of recent investments that major oil companies including BP have made in shale gas in recent years, but it reflects growing interest in an energy source that BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in January would be a "game-changer" for the U.S. gas market.
In 2008, BP agreed to pay Chesapeake Energy $1.9 billion for a 25 percent share of Chesapeake's acreage in the Fayetteville shale play.
Other oil companies including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and France's Total (TOTF.PA) have also committed to investing billions of dollars in shale gas in the past two years, despite claims by enivronmentalists that the technology pollutes ground water. BP declined to comment.
The transaction is small by the standards of recent investments that major oil companies including BP have made in shale gas in recent years, but it reflects growing interest in an energy source that BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in January would be a "game-changer" for the U.S. gas market.
In 2008, BP agreed to pay Chesapeake Energy $1.9 billion for a 25 percent share of Chesapeake's acreage in the Fayetteville shale play.
Other oil companies including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and France's Total (TOTF.PA) have also committed to investing billions of dollars in shale gas in the past two years, despite claims by enivronmentalists that the technology pollutes ground water. BP declined to comment.
