With the pullout of Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy from the Barnett Shale, Total, the French-owned oil company is moving in to replace it.
As a result, France’s largest oil company will be the only company with hydraulic fracturing in the Barnett. Ironically, Total is not allowed to conduct hydraulic fracturing in Europe.
In order to move into the Barnett Shale region, Total is paying $420 million to Tulsa’s Williams Partners for a restructured and competitive gas-gathering agreement.
“With the new conditions created by the exit of Chesapeake and the associated restructuring of the midstream contracts, we believe that we can extract significant value from the substantial, well-located resource base of the play,” said Jose Ignacio Sanz who is President of U.S. operations for total.
He told the Wall Street Journal the move to the Barnett Shale will increase Total’s U.S. production by 65,000 barrels a day. The current production is 89,000 barrels a day.
