American Energy to Buy $4.25 bln in U.S. Shale Assets

Firm to buy assets in Texas for $2.5 bln; Ohio, West Virginia for $1.75 bln.

Aubrey McClendon's American Energy Partners LLP said it would acquire oil and gas assets in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia for $4.25 billion.

American Energy, started by McClendon after he was pushed out as chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp a year ago, said it would acquire about 63,000 net acres of production leases in Texas's Permian Basin from Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion.

The properties in Southern Permian are expected to have net production of about 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

American Energy announced a separate deal to acquire about 27,000 net acres of production leases in Monroe County, Ohio, from East Resources Inc and an unnamed private company.

The company is also buying 48,000 net acres of production leases in West Virginia from East Resources and a private company.

The deals in Ohio and West Virginia are worth $1.75 billion.

Reporting by Anannya Pramanick