Texas Oil Family to Benefit From Potential $8-Billion Mitsubishi Deal

Father and son, Albert and Gordon Huddleston, part of the Texas oil dynasty of H.L. Hunt, are expected to become even richer if a rumored $8-billion deal with Mitsubishi Corp goes through.

Albert and Gordon Huddleston are descendants of Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, who founded and grew the family oil business in the 1930s and 1940s with hundreds of producing wells in East Texas.

Reports emerged earlier this week that Mitsubishi Corp. is about to acquire the shale and pipeline assets of Aethon Energy Management, founded by Albert Huddleston, who is also the CEO.

Aethon Energy is a private investment firm focused on asymmetric opportunities in onshore energy assets in North America, and has sprawling operations in the Haynesville shale gas basin in East Texas and Louisiana.

Mitsubishi is said to be ready to pay up to $8 billion for Aethon’s assets, Reuters reported this week, citing unnamed sources.

The deal would give Mitsubishi a solid presence in shale gas, the publication said, adding the assets were conveniently located close to the Gulf Coast and all the LNG plants already operating and getting built there.

Aethon Energy Management has been exploring options for its natural gas assets since last year. At the time, the assets were valued at some $10 billion. Originally, the company considered either a sale or an initial public offering for the assets, which include over 1,400 miles of pipelines.

Mitsubishi Corp., a major player on the global LNG market, recently indicated it might become an investor in the Alaska LNG project—a priority energy project for the Trump administration. Mitsubishi is already one of the five joint venture partners in the LNG Canada project on the country’s West Coast, which is nearing completion and set to ship out its first LNG export cargoes by the middle of this year.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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