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Global gas explorer BG is spending more than $1.3billion (£778 million) to help produce some of the world's most inaccessible resources under the US.
BG said today that it is paying $655 million to take a 50% stake in 120,000 acres of Texas and Louisiana operated by Exco Resources and where trillions of cubic feet of shale gas - natural gas stored in impermeable rock structures - is reckoned to be.
BG said it is also spending another $400 million - equal to 75% of the costs of developing the acreage - and another $249 million to take 50% ownership of the local pipeline.
Shale gas has only been accessible in the 21st century with the onset of new technologies of hydraulic fracturing.
Exco's interests are part of the Haynesville shale gas structure - the biggest of several such US structures.
Shale gas is a new adventure for BG which has made its name in recent years in the liquefied natural gas transportation business.
BP recently made a major investment in US shale gas with Chesapeake Energy.
