SK Holdings receives $10m dividend from shale gas investment

SK Holdings, the holding unit of SK Group, said Tuesday that the company has received fourth-quarter dividends worth $10 million from the company‘s investment in Eureka Midstream Holdings.

In September, SK Holdings purchased shares worth $100 million in Eureka Midstream Holdings, a US-based shale gas gathering and processing company owned by Morgan Stanley.

Houston-based Eureka currently operates midstream assets in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, the area where North America’s largest natural gas reservoirs are located. The company owns pipelines capable of transporting 17 million metric tons of natural gas per year. The company is also considered to have a high profit margin of 66 percent before write-offs. 

“The company expects to makes earnings through quarterly dividends down the road,” SK Holdings officials said. The officials added that the company will also focus on securing and strengthening the natural gas value chain in the US -- from production to the final consumer.

SK Holdings’ investment in Eureka Midstream is the latest in a series of investments made by the company. SK Holdings this year has made investments worth a total of 1.7 trillion won ($1.57 billion). Of that, more than 50 percent were overseas, it said.

“Starting with the quarterly dividend paid, SK Holdings expects other investments as well to bear fruits in the following year,” the group officials said.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)