A rare Barnett Shale drilling rig, pictured last year. French oil major is now the… Total said on Friday it is exercising its preemption right to acquire the 75% share in the Barnett Shale which it doesn’t already own to become the sole owner and operator of the field. Total said its Total E&P USA unit will top up Chesapeake’s payment with $420 million to Williams for “a fully restructured, competitive gas-gathering agreement” in addition to paying $138 million to be released from three other contracts. “With the new conditions created by the exit of Chesapeake and the associated restructuring of the midstream contracts, we believe that we can extract significant value from the substantial, well-located resource base of the play,” Total E&P USA President José Ignacio Sanz said in a statement. The Barnett Shale was once a big-producing gas field near Fort Worth in North Texas, but in […]