Kalnin Ventures LLC closed the purchase of a 29.4% stake in the Chaffee Corners Joint Exploration Agreement, an operation in the Marcellus Shale, on behalf of its investor, Thailand-based Banpu Pcl. The stake was closed from Range Resources - Appalachia LLC, the firm said May 23.

The interest of Banpu, a coal mining and power-generation company with total assets of around $6.6 billion, is the first time a Thailand-based company has taken interest in the U.S. shale gas industry, the firm said.

Repsol and Abarta Energy own the remaining interest in the exploration area, with Repsol, through its subsidiary Talisman USA, as the operator.

The Chaffee Corners transaction’s total value is $112 million. There are 156 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of 1P reserves, as of December 2015 and third-party estimates; net production to interest is about 21 MMcf/d.

There are 62 producing wells and 14 waiting on completion, and there are more than 170 de-risked locations.

Chaffee Corners has a gathering system and compression station, firm offtake contracts and other substantial midstream assets, Kalnin added.

Chris Kalnin, managing director and founder of Kalnin Ventures, said that the transaction’s closing is the culmination of 18 months’ research, adding that more than 100 projects were screened.

He said that the firm continues pursuing similar nonoperated assets in the Marcellus and other North American resource plays.

Kalnin Ventures is based in Broomfield, Colo.