Why US Government Will Let BIG GAS Frack Us To Death

Interesting article released on Reuter's really sums up all the trading that is going on as various interests trade Shale Gas leases like they are playing Monopoly...want to know why our own United States Government, and President Obama are willing to see average citizens, our communities, our SAFE DRINKING WATER, and OUR HEALTH sold down the river...FOLLOW THE MONEY. 

With the dollars on the table, those of us waging the battle against Shale Gas drilling have far less of a chance than David had against Goliath. If you look at how fast Chesapeake Energy is flipping their leases off to foreign held companies, it is recommended they be banned from doing any future Business in the United States of America.  Seems if the supposed reason for all this FRACKING is to end our dependence on foreign oil, if our communities are going to be RAPED for National Security, then all that Natural Gas should be classified as Strategic Gas supplies, and any company extracting be required to keep it here in America.

Below are major shale gas and oil acquisitions:
APRIL 2011:

-- A subsidiary of Marubeni Corp (8002.T) said it will pay
Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N) about $270 million for a 30 percent
stake, equivalent to 180,000 net acres, in the liquids-rich
Niobrara Shale located in southeast Wyoming and northern
Colorado. [nWNAB2649]
FEBRUARY 2011

-- PetroChina (0857.HK) said it will pay Encana Corp
(ECA.TO) $5.4 billion to form a joint venture and develop the
Cutbank Ridge acreage, some 635,000 acres (257,000 hectares) in
northeastern British Columbia, which produces around 255
million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) from some 1 trillion
cubic feet (tcf) of reserves. [ID:nN09296031]

-- BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) said it will pay Chesapeake Energy
Corp (CHK.N) $4.75 billion for a 75 percent stake in the
Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. [ID:nLDE71L1M0]

The transaction would give BHP 487,000 net acres with a net
production of around 415 million cubic feet of natural gas per
day.
DECEMBER 2010

-- South Africa's Sasol (SOLJ.J) said it will pay $1.03
billion for a half share in Talisman Energy Inc's (TLM.TO)
Montney Shale in northern British Columbia, thought to contain
as much as 44 tcf of gas reserves. [ID:nLDE6BJ04G]

Through the transaction, Sasol also acquired half of the
9.6 tcf of estimated gas reserves in Farrell Creek properties,
also in British Columbia.
OCTOBER 2010

-- CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK) (CEO.N) said it would pay Chesapeake
Energy $1.08 billion in cash for one-third of its Eagle Ford
shale in South Texas. CNOOC will also fund 75 percent of
Chesapeake's share of drilling and completion costs until an
additional $1.08 billion has been paid. [ID:nN10263769]

-- Barclays Capital (BARC.L) said it would pay Chesapeake
$1.15 billion for future production in 390 billion cubic feet
of proved reserves and about 280 million cubic feet of
production per day in the Barnett Shale over a five-year
period. [ID:nN0479662]
JUNE 2010:

-- India's largest listed company Reliance Industries
(RELI.BO) said it will invest $1.36 billion for a 45 percent
stake in Pioneer Natural Resources' (PXD.N) Eagle Ford shale
acreage and an additional $1.052 billion for drilling costs
over five years. [ID:nSGE65N06C]

The transaction was expected to boost production by 32,000
to 41,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2013, up
from 2,000 boepd in 2010.
MAY 2010

-- Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it would pay $4.7
billion cash to buy privately held East Resources Inc, which
controls 650,000 net acres (2,600 square kilometers) in the
Marcellus Shale and 1.05 million acres overall. The deal would
boost Shell's daily gas production in North America by about
7.5 percent.
[ID:nLDE64R0AX]

-- British gas producer BG Group (BG.L) said it would pay
$950 million to buy a 50 percent interest in shale gas assets
in Appalachia from Dallas, Texas-based EXCO Resources (XCO.N),
which produce some 35 million cubic feet per day of gas.
[ID:nLDE6490DB]

The deal gave BG access to approximately 654,000 net acres
with some 186,000 for development in the Marcellus Shale.
FEBRUARY 2010

--Mitsui & Co Ltd (8031.T) unit Mitsui E&P USA said it
would enter into a $1.4 billion joint venture with Anadarko
Petroleum Corp (APC.N) for a 32.5 percent share of Anadarko's
properties in the Marcellus Shale, equivalent to 100,000
acres.
JANUARY 2010

-- French energy giant Total (TOT.N) unit Total E&P USA
said it will pay Chesapeake $2.25 billion to enter into a joint
venture agreement in which Total would acquire a 25 percent
stake in Chesapeake's Barnett Shale upstream assets.

As part of the deal, Total said it would fund 60 percent of
Chesapeake's drilling and completion expenditures until the
$1.45 billion portion was fully funded.
DECEMBER 2009:

-- Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said it would acquire XTO
Energy Inc XTO.N for about $30 billion in stock. XTO's
resource base is the equivalent of 45 trillion cubic feet of
gas and includes shale gas, tight gas, coal bed methane and
shale oil.

-- Ultra Petroleum Corp (UPL.N) said it would pay about
$400 million to an unnamed private company to buy 80,000 net
acres in the Marcellus Shale, giving it about 250,000 total net
acres in the Marcellus and a potential for 1,800 net drilling
sites.
NOVEMBER 2009:

-- Denbury Resources Inc (DNR.N) said it would buy Encore
Acquisition Co for $3.2 billion, creating a company with 426
million barrels of oil equivalent in proved reserves.

The acquisition gave Denbury access to Encore's properties
in Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota and a stake in the
oil-rich Bakken Shale on the U.S.-Canada border.
JUNE 2009:

-- BG Group paid EXCO Resources Inc $1.3 billion to
establish a joint venture in which EXCO contributed 120,000
acres of land in the natural gas-rich Haynesville Shale and
associated gas infrastructure. The companies each have a 50
percent interest.
MAY 2009:

-- Talon Oil & Gas LLC agreed to buy 60 percent of Denbury
Resources Inc's (DNR.N) Barnett Shale natural gas assets for
$270 million giving it some 45.7 million cubic feet of gas per
day equivalent (77 percent natural gas) of production (as of
2008).

That amount represented 16 percent of Denbury's 2008
production and approximately 18 percent of its total proved
reserves as of December 31, 2008.

-- Independent oil and gas company Quicksilver Resources
Inc (KWK.N) agreed to form a joint venture with Italian energy
giant Eni (ENI.MI) to develop its Barnett Shale properties in
Texas.

As part of the deal, Eni agreed to buy a 27.5 percent stake
in Quicksilver's Alliance leasehold interests in the Fort Worth
Basin, which produces around 60 mmcfd of gas, for $280 million.
MARCH 2009:

-- Independent Canadian oil exploration firm TriStar Oil &
Gas and Crescent Point Energy Trust agreed to buy Talisman
Energy Inc's Bakken Shale lands in Saskatchewan and Montana for
C$720 million ($567 million) which at the time produced about
8,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day with estimated reserves
of 45.6 million boed on 610,000 acres.
NOVEMEBER 2008

-- Norway's StatoilHydro said it would pay $3.375 billion
for a 32.5 percent stake in Chesapeake's Marcellus Shale
assets, which covered some 1.8 million acres of land.