The company said it will pay CONSOL $59m at closing and $534m in the form of a 50% drilling carry of certain CONSOL working interest obligations over a five-year period.
The companies’ plan to jointly develop the Utica Shale assets calls for Hess to operate about 80,000 acres in Jefferson, Harrison, Guernsey and Belmont counties.
CONSOL, on the other hand, will operate about 120,000 acres elsewhere in eastern Ohio, including Portage, Tuscarawas, Mahoning and Noble counties.
The transaction is expected to be closed in October, and appraisal drilling is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
Hess chairman and CEO John Hess said that the company’s entry into the Utica Shale enables it to build a strategic acreage position in an emerging unconventional play in the US.
