TotalEnergies Buys up Anadarko Shale Acreage

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Supermajor TotalEnergies (Courbevoie, France) said Monday it was boosting its standing as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) player with the purchase of a substantial interest in the Anadarko Basin in the U.S.

For undisclosed terms, TotalEnergies said it acquired a 49% stake in gas-producing assets in the Anadarko Basin, situated largely in Oklahoma, from Continental Resources (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

"This acquisition will further increase our natural gas production in the U.S. and consolidate TotalEnergies' integrated LNG position with a competitive low-cost and low-emission gas production," said Nicolas Terraz, the president for upstream developments at Total.

The assets in question have a potential gross production rate of about 350 million cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2030. Covering some 50,000 square miles across Oklahoma, the Anadarko Basin could hold as much as 16 billion barrels of oil and more than 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. TotalEnergies during the second quarter said its total production of about 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day was 3% higher than during the same period last year, supported in part by new developments in the U.S.

Its LNG business reported adjusted net operating income of $1 billion, which was a 10% year-on-year decrease attributed to market prices. TotalEnergies nevertheless claims to be the largest supplier of LNG in the world.

Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive officer of the company, has backed expansions of the Cameron and Rio Grande LNG facilities on the Gulf of Mexico, in which it holds 16.6% and 16.7% ownership, respectively.

TotalEnergies also signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with NextDecade (Houston, Texas), the majority owner of Rio Grande, to secure LNG from a fourth train at the complex for exports to Europe.

Subscribers can click here for a list of detailed reports for projects related to ongoing developments at the Cameron and Rio Grande LNG facilities.

Drawing on the Anadarko Basin may be somewhat prone to risk. Oklahoma during the 2010s experienced weekly earthquakes that were associated with wastewater in the Anadarko shale patch. Then-Governor Mary Fallin had put $1.4 million in funding on the table to study the issue after the state experienced more than 900 small tremors in 2015.

Still a regional concern, several studies, including from the U.S. Geological Survey, show that wastewater injections--and not the process of hydraulic fracturing itself--are behind seismic activity in shale.

Shale gas, meanwhile, backs the U.S. position as the world leader in LNG exports, which is supporting European energy security amid increased sanctions pressure on legacy-supplier Russia. Total natural gas production, however, is on pace for a marginal decline from 2025 levels.

Continental Resources, no longer trading as a public company, had no mention on the deal with TotalEnergies.

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