Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., released its second quarter earnings and operational update yesterday. Because of recent sales of their midstream division and other asset sales, second quarter profits for the company went up—rather dramatically. They reported a profit of $972 million, or $1.29 a share, up from $510 million a year earlier. That includes $584 million in an after-tax gain from the recent sale of Chesapeake Midstream Partners and $490 million in gains related to hedging. If you exclude the asset sales, adjusted earnings were $3 million, or 6 cents a share. Revenue increased 2.1% to $3.39 billion.
Chesapeake reports their lease holdings in the Utica Shale are now 1.3 million acres—the largest position of any driller. As of June 30, they’ve drilled 87 wells in the Utica. Chesapeake is also the largest lease holder in the Marcellus, with a whopping 1.8 million acres. They currently have 10 rigs operating in the “dry gas” portion of the Marcellus.
