Chesapeake Energy Corporation Seeks Declaratory Judgment with Respect to Ability to Call 6.775% Senior Notes Due 2019

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today announced that it is
seeking a declaratory judgment in the United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York with respect to redeeming the
Company′s 6.775% Senior Notes due 2019 ('the Notes?) at par.
Specifically, the Company is requesting the Court to confirm that a
notice to redeem issued on or before March 15, 2013, as specified in the
governing indenture, will be timely and effective to redeem the Notes at
par, with payment to be made 60 days after such notice, pursuant to the
Special Early Redemption provision of the Notes. Chesapeake desires to
redeem the Notes as part of a broader refinancing of its outstanding
debt obligations.
The Company is also requesting a prompt preliminary order from the Court
that a notice issued by March 15 for a Special Early Redemption at par
cannot be construed to be a notice to redeem under the 'make-whole?
provision of the indenture in the event the Court does not determine
that the March 15 notice is timely for a redemption at par. If the Court
does not issue either the preliminary order (assuring that the proposed
March 15 notice will not under any circumstances constitute a notice of
redemption at the make-whole price) or the requested declaratory
judgment (that the March 15 notice is timely for purposes of a Special
Early Redemption at par), such notice would have no effect and the Notes
will remain outstanding.
The defendant in the action initiated today by Chesapeake is the
indenture trustee for the Notes, The Bank of New York Mellon Trust
Corporation, N.A.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to purchase or a
solicitation of an offer to sell any securities.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is the second-largest
producer of natural gas, a Top 15 producer of oil and natural gas
liquids 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 Eagle Ford,
Utica, Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, Mississippi Lime and Niobrara
unconventional liquids plays and in the Marcellus, Haynesville/Bossier
and Barnett unconventional natural gas shale plays. The company also
owns substantial marketing and oilfield services businesses through its
subsidiaries Chesapeake Energy Marketing, Inc. and Chesapeake Oilfield
Operating, L.L.C. Further information is available at www.chk.com
where Chesapeake routinely posts announcements, updates, events,
investor information, presentations and news releases.
This news release includes 'forward-looking statements' that give
Chesapeake's current expectations or forecasts of future events,
including its intention to engage in a refinancing of certain of its
outstanding debt obligations.Although we believe the
expectations and forecasts reflected in our forward-looking statements
are reasonable, we can give no assurance they will prove to have been
correct.They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or
by known or unknown risks and uncertainties and actual results may
differ from the expectation expressed.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
Jeffrey L. Mobley, CFA, 405-767-4763
jeff.mobley@chk.com
or
Gary
T. Clark, CFA, 405-935-6741
gary.clark@chk.com
or
Media
Contacts:
Michael Kehs, 405-935-2560
michael.kehs@chk.com
or
Jim
Gipson, 405-935-1310
jim.gipson@chk.com