MELBOURNE, Australia - BHP Billiton is buying shale gas reserves from Chesapeake Energy Corp for $4.75 billion, pitting itself for the first time against oil giants and China in the battle for the fast-growing energy source in North America.

The deal marks the top global miner's first attempt at picking up assets since failing on three mega-deals over the past three years and sets it further apart from its mining peers with a big bet on the world's biggest gas market.

"BHP have had (three) multibillion deals which have tipped over, so the market should be pleased that this is one that is going to go through, and it is a change of direction in terms of looking at their petroleum division," said Ric Ronge, portfolio manager at Pengana Capital.