Shale’s Bryan Sheffield Teams With Inpex to Boost Australia Gas

Texas oilman Bryan Sheffield and his private equity firm, Formentera Partners, received an investment commitment for as much as $619 million from Japanese oil and natural gas producer Inpex Corp. to expand shale-gas exploration across Australia.

Inpex will acquire 68,000 net acres within Formentera’s 1.9 million net-acre position in the Beetaloo Basin of Australia’s northern territory, the companies said Friday in a statement. The initial Inpex investment is for $208 million, with an option to add as much as another $411 million for more acreage, they said.