The deal marked its entry into the US onshore shale industry, adding to its oil and gas field interests in the offshore Gulf of Mexico. It added to the Fayetteville assets when it bought US independent Petrohawk for $12.1bn.

"We have initiated the marketing our Fayetteville acreage. However, we will only divest the field if it maximises value for shareholders," BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said. The company wrote down the value of its Fayetteville assets in August 2012 when it took a charge of $2.84bn.

BHP last month said that it plans to invest about $4bn/yr in its onshore US shale business. The US onshore petroleum interests include shale fields in the Permian basin in western Texas, the Eagle Ford in southern Texas and the Haynesville shale field that straddles Texas and Louisiana. 

The company's total production is forecast to increase by 5pc to 699,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) in 2014-15, supported by a 44,000 b/d increase in liquids output from its onshore US fields. It is forecasting output of 200,000 boe/d from the Eagle Ford and Permian by the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year ending 30 June.