Big Oil’s Flight Draws U.S. Risk Takers to Australian Shale

Aubrey McClendon, the wildcatter who pioneered the U.S. shale revolution by going where big oil companies wouldn’t, is at it again. This time in Australia.

Emboldened by the exodus of producers such as Chevron Corp. and Statoil ASA from Australian shale, McClendon and private-equity investor John Raymond are pouncing amid the rout in global crude prices and a dearth of other ready investors, said Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. Australia is home to the world’s sixth-largest shale oil reserves and seventh-biggest tranche of shale gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.