Tellurian Inc.—the latest venture by Cheniere Energy founder Charif Souki—is seeking to acquire Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s Louisiana drilling fields, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Tellurian wants to become a producer and exporter of natural gas, but the company has few assets. Tellurian has said it wants to acquire drilling fields near a coastal site where it plans to build an export facility.
Chesapeake’s Louisiana fields, located in the Haynesville Shale, are valued at about $2 billion, according to Jefferies analysts. The talks to purchase Chesapeake’s fields could fall apart and there is no guarantee of an agreement.
Tellurian has offered Chesapeake equity as a part of the asset sale—something Chesapeake isn’t interested in doing, people familiar with the talks say. Tellurian has also held talks with other producers with Haynesville assets to acquire more acreage.
Last year, Tellurian acquired acreage in northern Louisiana for $85 million that currently produces about four million cubic feet of natural gas a day.
