In another major oil acquisition of North American shale-gas resources, BP America Inc., Houston, a subsidiary of British major BP Plc, (NYSE: BP) plans to acquire approximately 90,000 net acres of leasehold and producing properties in the Woodford shale play in Oklahoma’s Arkoma Basin from Chesapeake Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: CHK) for $1.75 billion in cash.

Chesapeake is exiting the region with the sale. The assets are in Atoka, Coal, Hughes and Pittsburg counties. Production is approximately 50 million cubic feet of equivalent per day.

The deal follows major integrated oil company Royal Dutch Shell, The Hague, The Netherlands, (NYSE: RDS-B) subsidiary Shell Canada Ltd.’s announcement to buy Alberta-based E&P Duvernay Oil Corp. (Toronto: DDV) with holdings in the Montney shale of Alberta for a deal value of approximately C$5.9 billion.

Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake chief executive, says, “This transaction completes another aspect of our asset monetization program and enables Chesapeake to redeploy capital to our Haynesville, Barnett and Marcellus shale plays and further improves the company’s capital structure.

“We look forward to working with BP on other projects in the future, in addition to current projects such as our Anadarko Basin joint venture in which we are drilling a series of Deep Springer wells across a 155-square-mile area of mutual interest in Washita County, Oklahoma. Our first well has been logged and looks excellent.”

BP chief executive of exploration and production Andy Inglis says, “This purchase is a strategic entry into an attractive and established shale basin with potential resources of up to 2 trillion cubic feet. It complements our extensive unconventional gas plays throughout North. This acquisition has the potential to double our existing production of over 200 million cubic feet per day from our Arkoma operations.”

Closing is expected on Aug. 8.

Meagher Oil & Gas Properties Inc. was advisor to Chesapeake.