Beach Deal Seen With Australia Shale 2% of U.S. Value: Real M&A

Surging prices for shale gas and oil properties in the U.S. are turning owners of deposits as far away as Australia into potential takeover targets.

While shale assets in Texas sold at $25,000 an acre this year and a holding in Ohio and Pennsylvania changed hands at about $15,000 last month, shale properties owned by Australia’s Beach Energy Ltd. can be bought for $406 per acre, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and DNB Markets. Energy companies are pursuing unconventional assets such as shale after the average price for Brent oil futures reached a record in 2011 and the cost to find and develop oil jumped, the data show.