Nexen Joins in Marathon Polish Shale Play

Nexen Inc., is joining with Marathon Oil Corp in jointly exploring Marathon's shale gas concessions in Poland.

Marathon said Nexen will acquire a 40 percent working interest in 10 of its concessions in Poland's Paleozoic shale play, where the company has 2.3 million acres.

Nexen, Canada's sixth-largest independent oil producer, is currently developing its own shale gas holdings in the Horn River region of British Columbia.

"This partnership provides not only financial risk mitigation but combines the extensive unconventional drilling and completion experience of Marathon and Nexen to fully evaluate the potential of these concessions," Annell Bay, Marathon's vice-president worldwide exploration, said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has pegged technically recoverable shale gas reserves in Poland at 5.3 trillion cubic metres, making them Europe's largest.

The companies did not give financial terms of the deal, aimed at reducing the financial risk to Houston-based Marathon, the No. 4 U.S. integrated oil company.

Marathon said it plans to conduct seismic surveys on its Polish lands and possibly drill up to two wells this year. As many as eight are planned for 2012.

[caption id="attachment_8446" align="alignnone" width="646" caption="Source: Marathon Oil Corporation"][/caption]

Source: Reuters