Chesapeake Energy Corporation Announces Closing of Fayetteville Shale Transaction with BHP Billiton

31.03.2011  |  Business Wire

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today announced the closing of
a transaction to sell its Fayetteville Shale assets to BHP Billiton
Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE:BHP;
ASX:BHP). The transaction included approximately 487,000 net acres of
leasehold, current net production of approximately 415 million cubic
feet of natural gas equivalent per day and midstream assets consisting
of approximately 420 miles of pipeline. As part of the transaction,
Chesapeake has agreed to provide technical and business services for up
to one year for BHP Billiton′s Fayetteville properties for an
agreed-upon fee.

Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake′s Chief Executive Officer, commented,
'We are pleased to complete the sale of our Fayetteville Shale assets to
BHP Billiton. I would also like to personally thank all of the
Chesapeake employees who throughout the past six years helped build this
field into a world-class natural gas asset. This transaction allows
Chesapeake to achieve substantial progress in implementing the debt
reduction targets of our previously announced 25/25 Plan. We look
forward to replacing the Fayetteville production through substantial
growth from our other world-class natural gas plays and also from our
rapidly growing higher margin liquids-rich plays in the years ahead.?

This news release contains 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 regarding our 25/25 Plan and our
expectation of future production growth. Actual results could differ
materially as a result of a variety of risks and uncertainties. While
forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by
us that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, a number of
risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ
materially from our predictions and expectations. See 'Risks Factors' in
Item 1A of our 2010 Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011 for a discussion of risk factors
that affect our business. 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 this information.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation is the second-largest producer of
natural gas and the most active driller of new wells in the U.S.
Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company's operations are focused on
discovering and developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields
onshore in the U.S. Chesapeake owns leading positions in the Barnett,
Haynesville, Marcellus and Bossier natural gas shale plays and in the
Eagle Ford, Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, Mississippian, Wolfcamp,
Bone Spring, Avalon, Niobrara and Williston Basin unconventional liquids
plays. The company has also vertically integrated its operations and
owns substantial midstream, compression, drilling and oilfield service
assets. Further information is available at www.chk.com
where Chesapeake routinely posts announcements, updates, events,
investor information and presentations and all recent press releases