US explorer Southwestern Energy said it had won a bid in Canada’s New Brunswick province to search for oil and gas on lands covering more than 2.5 million acres.

Houston-based Southwestern said in a statement the win required it to investments worth $47 million over the next three years in its first venture outside the US.

“While the Maritimes Basin has been recognized for years, we have identified a large area which we believe is prospective for oil and natural gas,” said Southwestern chief executive Steve Mueller. “There is a significant amount of data yet to be collected in order to confirm its economic merit, but if our testing yields positive results, we expect that our activity in the area could increase substantially over the next several years.”

“This could be the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our company's history," he said.