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Noble Energy Leaving West Virginia for $1.2 Billion

Citing plans to spend the proceeds in other oil and natural gas drilling regions, Noble Energy officials said Tuesday the company will sell its assets in West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania for $1.2 billion.

"This enables us to further focus our organization on our highest-return areas that will deliver industry-leading U.S. onshore volume and cash flow growth." Noble Chairman, President and CEO David L. Stover said. "The Marcellus has been a strong performer for Noble Energy over the last few years, which is a direct result of the success of our employees' efforts. During the same time period, we have also significantly expanded the inventory of investment opportunities in our liquids-rich, higher-margin onshore assets, which has led us to now divest our Marcellus position."

Since entering the Marcellus and Utica region several years ago, Noble Energy has been one of the most active frackers in Marshall County. The company did not identify the purchaser of the West Virginia acreage, referring to the entity only as the "undisclosed buyer."

Other firms with significant operations in the county are Southwestern Energy, Chevron, Statoil and EQT Corp. In late 2014, Southwestern paid $5 billion to acquire the assets formerly held by Chesapeake Energy.

Southwestern spokeswoman Christina Fowler said Tuesday her firm is not acquiring the Noble assets, while representatives of the other area drillers could not immediately be reached for comment.

The deal transfers current natural gas production of about 415 million cubic feet per day to the buyer, along with 385,000 total acres.

In 2011, Noble Energy partnered with Consol Energy in a joint venture to develop acreage in Marshall County, but the agreement was dissolved last year to allow each company to go its own way.

In 2015, the Marshall County Board of Education entered a lease agreement with Noble. The lease was for slightly less than a full acre, but it paid the school $2,500 in up front lease money and 12.5 percent of production royalties.