Aurora Oil & Gas Corp. (Amex: AOG) has closed a cashless exchange of various New Albany shale properties in Indiana in a net-acre-for-net-acre transaction with an undisclosed operator.

The North Knox County project area is on the western edge of southern Indiana and was formerly operated by Rex Operating Co. Aurora owned approximately 19,240 net acres in this project, and had not reported any proved reserves associated with its ownership. Aurora has sold its entire stake in this project.

The Eastern New Albany shale project area is on the eastern side of Aurora’s identified core New Albany shale play. The exchange resets Aurora's acreage position, creating a new 100% owned and operated project encompassing approximately 46,560 acres in the eastern portion of the related acreage block. To date, Aurora has not drilled any wells in this area.

The Wabash project area in southern central Indiana has been one of the primary areas of Aurora's operated drilling activity. Aurora has increased its working interest ownership in the leases and wells an additional 15.68% interest, increasing its interest in the project to 64.43%. Aurora now owns approximately 79,051 net acres in the Wabash project and has recorded an additional proved reserves of 1.23 billion cubic feet.

Aurora chief executive William W. Deneau says, “This transaction is a great example of our ongoing asset optimization strategy, in which we are consistently working to improve our asset portfolio by consolidating positions, creating new partnerships in our project areas, and selling assets when appropriate.” SJP