Exxon spends $1.7bn on shale
Exxon Mobil said it bought privately held natural gas company Phillips Resources and related company TWP Inc for $1.69bn (£1bn) last week, picking up about 317,000 acres for exploration in the Marcellus shale basin. The action highlights the importance Exxon is placing on natural gas assets after spending about $30bn last year to buy natural gas company XTO Energy, adding one of the leading developers of shale gas and a resource base of 45 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent.