In what may prove to be the first strike in the quest for billions of dollars worth of natural gas from the massive Marcellus shale region, Royal Dutch Shell PLC (Shell Oil) has paid $4.7 billion to East Resources Inc. for the gas rights to 650,000 acres of Marcellus shale land. Currently East Resources produces only the equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil a day from its properties. In 2009, however Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) provided the relatively small gas-development company funds to develop its holdings.