ExxonMobil Buys Gas, as Big Oil Plans for a Renewable-Energy Future

These days, everyone wants a piece of the rock -- domestic shale, that is. With oil-drilling costs north of $3.5 million per well and natural gas trading below $3, global energy companies are all about American shale. In November, Europe's second-largest supplier of natural gas, Norwegian-based StatOilHydro (STOHF), signed a $3.4 billion agreement in November to acquire 32.5% of ChesapeakeEnergy's (CHK) 32,000 shale-gas leases in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Ohio.