OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chesapeake
Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today announced that it has signed an
agreement to sell a portion of the company's acreage and producing
properties in its Haynesville Shale operating area in northern
Louisiana for approximately
$465 million to an affiliate of Covey
Park Energy LLC. The sale includes approximately 41,500 net acres
and 326 operated and non-operated wells currently producing
approximately 50 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day, net to
Chesapeake. The company expects this transaction to close in the
2017 first quarter.
Doug Lawler, Chesapeake's Chief
Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased with the results of
our non-core Haynesville sales
packages, totaling projected gross proceeds of $915 million, while divesting of only
approximately 80 mmcf of daily gas production and approximately
$50 million of estimated 2017
operating income. Upon closing, this strong bid for our second
Haynesville package, along with
our recent new issue and tender, will position Chesapeake with
significant liquidity as we begin a new year.
"Chesapeake delivered on its strategy and achieved our stated
financial and operational objectives in 2016. We exceeded our 2016
asset sales goal by approximately $500
million, bringing total gross proceeds from divestitures
either signed or closed in the year to approximately $2.5 billion, excluding certain volumetric
production payment repurchase transactions. We will continue to
pursue opportunities to strengthen our balance sheet in 2017."
Headquartered in Oklahoma
City, Chesapeake Energy Corporation's (NYSE: CHK) operations
are focused on discovering and developing its large and
geographically diverse resource base of unconventional oil and
natural gas assets onshore in the United States. The company
also owns oil and natural gas marketing and natural gas gathering
and compression businesses.
INVESTOR
CONTACT:
|
MEDIA
CONTACT:
|
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY
CORPORATION
|
Brad Sylvester,
CFA (405)
935-8870 ir@chk.com
|
Gordon Pennoyer
(405) 935-8878
media@chk.com
|
6100 North Western
Avenue P.O. Box
18496 Oklahoma City, OK
73154
|
This news release and the accompanying Outlook include
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are statements
other than statements of historical fact. They include statements,
but are not limited to, the anticipated timing and proceeds from
asset sales, if any, as well as the effect of such asset sales on
our ability to optimize our asset base, further reduce outstanding
debt and grow production in 2017. Although we believe the
expectations and forecasts reflected in the forward-looking
statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance they will prove
to have been correct. They can be affected by inaccurate or changed
assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from expected results include those described under "Risk Factors"
in Item 1A of our annual report on Form 10-K and any updates to
those factors set forth in Chesapeake's subsequent quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K (available at
http://www.chk.com/investors/sec-filings). These risk factors
include the volatility of oil, natural gas and NGL prices; the
limitations our level of indebtedness may have on our financial
flexibility; our inability to access the capital markets on
favorable terms or at all; the availability of cash flows from
operations and other funds to finance reserve replacement costs or
satisfy our debt obligations; a further downgrade in our credit
rating requiring us to post more collateral under certain
commercial arrangements; write-downs of our oil and natural gas
asset carrying values due to low commodity prices; our ability to
replace reserves and sustain production; uncertainties inherent in
estimating quantities of oil, natural gas and NGL reserves and
projecting future rates of production and the amount and timing of
development expenditures; our ability to generate profits or
achieve targeted results in drilling and well operations; leasehold
terms expiring before production can be established; commodity
derivative activities resulting in lower prices realized on oil,
natural gas and NGL sales; the need to secure derivative
liabilities and the inability of counterparties to satisfy their
obligations; adverse developments or losses from pending or future
litigation and regulatory proceedings, including royalty claims;
charges incurred in response to market conditions and in connection
with our ongoing actions to reduce financial leverage and
complexity; drilling and operating risks and resulting liabilities;
effects of environmental protection laws and regulation on our
business; legislative and regulatory initiatives further regulating
hydraulic fracturing; our need to secure adequate supplies of water
for our drilling operations and to dispose of or recycle the water
used; impacts of potential legislative and regulatory actions
addressing climate change; federal and state tax proposals
affecting our industry; potential OTC derivatives regulation
limiting our ability to hedge against commodity price fluctuations;
competition in the oil and gas exploration and production industry;
a deterioration in general economic, business or industry
conditions; negative public perceptions of our industry; limited
control over properties we do not operate; pipeline and gathering
system capacity constraints and transportation interruptions;
terrorist activities and cyber-attacks adversely impacting our
operations; potential challenges of our spin-off of Seventy Seven
Energy Inc. (SSE) in the event of a bankruptcy of SSE; an
interruption in operations at our headquarters due to a
catastrophic event; the continuation of suspended dividend payments
on our common stock and preferred stock; certain anti-takeover
provisions that affect shareholder rights; and our inability to
increase or maintain our liquidity through debt repurchases,
capital exchanges, asset sales, joint ventures, farmouts or other
means.
Expected asset sales may not be completed in the time frame
anticipated or at all. We caution you not to place undue
reliance on our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date of this news release, and we undertake no obligation to
update any of the information provided in this release or the
accompanying Outlook, except as required by applicable law.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chesapeake-energy-corporation-announces-agreement-to-sell-second-haynesville-shale-acreage-position-for-465-million-300381749.html
SOURCE Chesapeake Energy Corporation