KNOC Buys Texas Shale Stake From Anadarko for $1.55 Billion

Korea National Oil Corp. agreed to buy a stake in a Texas shale-oil block from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $1.55 billion, the second-largest purchase of U.S. oil and natural-gas fields this year, as Asian companies increase access to U.S. reserves.

South Korea’s state-owned energy company, known as KNOC, will pay Anadarko’s drilling costs in the Maverick basin block this year after the deal closes, in exchange for a 23.67 percent stake, according to an e-mailed statement from the South Korean government yesterday. KNOC will pay 90 percent of Anadarko’s drilling costs in the block after this year, the Woodlands, Texas-based company said in a statement.