NEW YORK — Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it will buy East Resources Inc., a major owner of shale gas holdings in the northeast United States, for US$4.7 billion from private investors.
Europe’s largest oil company said it will pay cash for East Resources, a Pennsylvania company that owns more than 2,500 oil and natural gas wells in the U.S. It also controls 1.25 million acres of land, mostly in the energy rich Marcellus Shale region that runs from New York to southwest Virginia.
Shell CEO Peter Voser said the acquisition fit with plans to