Chesapeake Puts 1/2 Million Leased Acres Up for Sale

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Chesapeake Energy has put a lot of its western U.S. acreage up for sale—some 500,000 acres in Wyoming and Colorado—in a bid to raise $9-$10 billion in cash to cover funding shortfalls and repay loans.

Chesapeake Energy Corp has put a half-million acres in Wyoming and Colorado up for sale, as the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer scrambles to raise cash to close a $9 billion to $10 billion funding shortfall.

Chesapeake, which earlier this month arranged a pricey $4 billion loan from its investment bankers to tide it over, has said it will sell as much as $11.5 billion in assets this year.

The deal for the acreage in the DJ Basin also includes oil and gas production from 29 wells that the company operates and Chesapeake’s interest in 24 non-operated wells, the company said in a statement.

Some of the assets are located in the Niobrara shale, an area the company’s chief executive, Aubrey McClendon, characterized as disappointing in February.*

*CNBC (May 24, 2012) – Chesapeake plans to sell wells in Wyoming, Colorado