BHP Billiton Exits US Shale For $10.8 Billion

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) said July 26 it landed buyers for its treasure chest of U.S. shale assets with two separate transactions worth a total of $10.8 billion cash.

The largest of the two transactions is the purchase by BP Plc (NYSE: BP) of BHP’s Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford and Haynesville assets for $10.5 billion cash. Separately, an affiliate of privately-held Merit Energy Co. agreed to acquire BHP’s remaining U.S. assets in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale for $300 million.

BHP announced it would divest its U.S. shale assets in August 2017, bowing to activist investors, namely U.S.-based Elliott Advisors.