Anadarko, KNOC sign $1.55 billion Eagle Ford deal

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Korea National Oil (KNOC) said it will buy one-third of Anadarko Petroleum Corp's (APC.N) interest in the Eagle Ford shale for $1.55 billion, the highest amount paid for acreage in the South Texas oil and gas field.

The long-anticipated deal was welcomed by investors, who pushed shares of Houston-based Anadarko up 3.5 percent.

Analysts pegged the value of the deal at about $13,000 to $16,000 per acre, the highest price paid yet in that basin. The Eagle Ford Shale is valued because it contains crude oil and natural gas that is rich in liquids that can be stripped out and sold at a premium.

Foreign companies, encouraged by high crude oil prices and hungry for the exploration know-how, have been on the hunt for deals in shale formations across the United States. And U.S. companies, looking for cash to fund exploration budgets, have been eager partners.

For example, Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N) inked a $1.3 billion deal with China's top offshore oil producer, CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK), for its oil-rich shale deposits in northeast Colorado and Southeast Wyoming.

CNOOC also paid a rich $10,300 to $10,800 per acre for its Eagle Ford state, while India's Reliance (RELI.BO) paid as much as $11,354 an acre in its deal with Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.N), according to data from Barclays Capital.

Anadarko will not receive any cash up front; instead KNOC will pay for all of Anadarko's 2011 capital costs in the basin. After that, KNOC will pay 90 percent of Anadarko's costs until the funds are spent, projected to happen at year-end 2013.

KNOC will receive about 80,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford as well as 16,000 additional dry-gas acres in the Pearsall Shale, also located in South Texas.

Shares of Newfield Exploration (NFX.N), a U.S. oil and gas company that holds acreage near Anadarko's, climbed more than 4 percent on news of the deal.

The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second quarter and will be effective retroactively as of January 1, 2011.

Anadarko said its advisers to the deal were Jefferies & Co Inc and Deutsche Bank Securities.

Shares of Anadarko closed up $2.71 at $79.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Dave Zimmerman and Richard Chang)