Thai Billionaire Isara Vongkusolkit’s Banpu Buys Exxon Mobil’s Texas Gas Fields For $750 Million

Banpu—managed by billionaire Isara Vongkusolkit and his household—has agreed to purchase pure gasoline fields in Texas from Exxon Mobil for $750 million because the Thai coal miner accelerates its transition into cleaner vitality.

Underneath the deal introduced late Friday, Banpu’s BKV Corp. will purchase 160,000 internet acres within the Barnett Shale subject—which holds about 93% stake throughout 2,100 wells that produce 225 million cubic toes equal (CFE) of pure gasoline per day—from Exxon Cell subsidiaries XTO Power and Barnett Gathering. The transaction will enhance Banpu’s pure gasoline output by about 32% to five.8 trillion CFE per day.

“Our gasoline enterprise is now well-positioned to scale up with intensive synergies and expertise enhancement to construct sustainable worth,” Somruedee Chaimongkol, CEO of Banpu, mentioned in a press release. “As we speak, BKV is a number one pure gasoline operator within the U.S. with an built-in method to the worth chain that enables the corporate to certify its responsibly sourced gasoline on the effectively head.”

The most recent acquisition follows the acquisition of a 768-megawatt mixed cycle gas-fired energy plant in Texas final August for $430 million. Banpu is deepening investments in energy tasks that use cleaner gasoline to attain its objective of increasing the group’s electrical energy era capability to six,100 megawatts by 2025 from over 3,300 megawatts at present, in accordance with Banpu’s web site.

The investments are beginning to payoff, with Banpu reporting a primary quarter internet revenue of 10.26 billion baht ($311 million) on gross sales of 41.5 billion baht. “Our sturdy first quarter earnings had been pushed by world financial restoration throughout industrial sectors and rising vitality demand, with rising money move generated from each present companies and new acquisitions,” Chaimongkol mentioned when the corporate introduced its quarterly outcomes earlier this month.

Banpu is certainly one of three corporations managed by Isara Vongkusolkit, 73, and his household. The household owns privately held Mitr Phol—Asia’s largest sugar producer by income—and SET-listed developer Erawan Group, which has over 70 motels below totally different manufacturers, together with Grand Hyatt. With a internet value of $1.6 billion, the household was ranked No. 24 within the newest listing of Thailand’s 50 Richest that was printed final June.