At the DUG—East conference and exhibition held this week in Pittsburgh, two heavy hitters who have jumped into the Marcellus shale play—Statoil through its JV with Chesapeake Energy Corp. inked in 2008, and Royal Dutch Shell just this past summer through its acquisition of East Resources Inc. for $4.7 billion in cash—detailed their strategies.

Statoil, based in Stavanger, Norway, and Europe’s second-largest gas player, noted that North America is now its fastest-growing region of operations internationally. Through the JV, it became a 32.5% owner in Chesapeake’s vast Marcellus acreage holdings. The international company’s goal is to advance to operatorship in the U.S. shales. Recently, the company entered the Eagle Ford shale in a JV with Talisman.

Propelling Statoil’s leap into the Marcellus and other U.S. shales is its goal to replicate its gas-value-chain strategy in shales internationally. Its first global shale venture is in South Africa, and the U.S. shales will be its proving ground.

Why the Marcellus? The shale play was in its early days and so offered tremendous upside. Statoil cast its fortune with the largest player and one that offered strong operating experience.

The JV plans to eventually market much of its gas from the northern core Marcellus area through two projects: one headed to Canada, which is seeing a drop-off in conventional gas production, and one feeding the island of Manhattan.

Activity in the southern core area of the JV will focus in part on increasing processing capacity for the wet gas there and its associated liquids, and “industrializing those hydrocarbons,” said Stephen Bull, commercial lead for the Marcellus for Statoil.

Statoil selected the Marcellus, as well as the Eagle Ford, for its low breakeven costs, said Bull. “They are falling even further,” he said of the breakeven picture in the two shales, due to operating efficiencies. “That is the best hedge you can do,” he said, “being in the lowest part of the breakeven area.”

The U.S.-shales schooling will aid Statoil as it seeks shale-development opportunities internationally. The company will have credibility when dealing with nations if it can prove it has achieved success in the U.S. market as an operator. Additionally, Bull said being an operator challenges its own big-project culture and exposes it to the more nimble independents working the U.S. shales.

Shell, which exited the U.S. onshore for the most part in the 80s, first returned to some core operations in South Texas and Canada, and continued its rebuild with a stake in the Pinedale Anticline of Wyoming in 2001. Since then it has added stakes in the Haynesville, Canada’s Montney shale, the Eagle Ford and now, the Marcellus.

Why East Resources? “We wanted high working interests and operated interests,” said Bryan Lastrapes, manager of business development for the onshore Americas at Shell. And like Statoil, Shell targeted the lowest breakeven shales.

Two technologies Shell is applying are fiberoptics, to measure temperature profiles and response during fracture stimulation, and vibration sensor technology, which uses downhole sensors to monitor rotation speed and other factors to improve drilling performance—achieving up to 25% faster drilling times, lower costs, and reduced wear and tear on bits.

Shell expects to double its production from the shales by 2015 and will spend billions doing so.

“Our goal is to be a Top Tier gas producer in the U.S.,” said Lastrapes. Driving timing of its investment will be competitive economics of plays across the basins in the U.S. and globally. “Projects will have to compete for internal funds.”

In purchasing East, Shell landed the material position in the Marcellus that it had sought, with what Lastrapes referred to as “blocky” acreage, with high working interests and the opportunity to operate. Its main focus is northern Pennsylvania’s Tioga County, where its land position is continuous and there is good infrastructure for gathering and water management. It operates there with Ultra Petroleum and Talisman, with some 100% working interests as well.

Lastrapes stressed the importance of learning from the Macondo oil-spill incident and working steadfastly with regulators, legislators, the public and other stakeholders to ensure best practices and good environmental stewardship as the Marcellus is developed.