XOM Interested In Acquiring More Shale (Natural Gas) -- Not a Bakken Story

ExxonMobil announced a long-term strategic move about a year ago to acquire more natural gas assets. XOM bought XTO this past year. XTO is in the Bakken which is primarily an oil play.

But XOM is interested in more natural gas reserves. The New York Times recently reported natural gas was a losing proposition, but it certainly seems to have been shoddy reporting, or market tinkering (manipulation?).

Note:

Three years after Exxon abandoned the Barnett shale in north Texas because of lagging returns, XTO-operated wells in the region are among the most profitable in the company’s portfolio, even after a 67 percent slide in U.S. gas prices since 2008, he said. 

And:

“The economic returns are very good,” Williams said during the interview in XTO’s offices in a 90-year-old bank building in Fort Worth, Texas. “We’re running economics on every individual well. We’re making sure each well makes economic sense before we drill it. We’re not drilling anything that’s losing money.”

Exxon has purchased shale fields that hold more than 10 trillion cubic feet of gas since the XTO transaction, the company’s biggest purchase in more than a decade, Williams said. Ten trillion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply U.S. household demand for two years, based on Bloomberg calculations.

The Bakken is an oil play, not a natural gas play but something tells me when XOM is looking for more shale acquisitions, XOM, as well as others, are looking at the Bakken. Most agree the Bakken is in early innings in a 100-year play.