Eesti Energia has signed an agreement by which it will acquire 100% of Oil Shale Exploration Company (OSEC), a US company holding the largest privately owned oil shale resources in the State of Utah, USA.

By acquiring OSEC, Eesti Energia will obtain over 3.1 billion tons of in place oil shale that contains nearly 2.1 billion recoverable barrels of oil. Eesti Energia is planning to construct an oil shale plant, which will have a capacity of 57,000 barrels of shale oil per day at full production. The development phase of US project is estimated to take 4 years followed by a construction period of 3 years.

The transaction will close after an approval is received from CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States). According to the agreement between the parties, the price of the transaction will not be disclosed.

Eesti Energia is an international energy company operating in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Jordan. Eesti Energia is engaged in oil shale mining, electricity and heat generation, shale oil production, electricity distribution and selling electricity and other products to retail customers. Eesti Energia is one of the largest companies in Estonia with total revenues of 796 million euros and EBITDA of 245 million euros as of 31 December 2010.

OSEC is an oil shale exploration and development company, which has been involved in shale oil development since 2005.