If you (foolishly) believed the stories about Aubrey McClendon and his oversight of the company he co-founded, Chesapeake Energy, you would believe that after he was bounced out of the company no one would ever again give him a dime. Under McClendon, supposedly Chessy spiraled out of control with debt and mismanagement. McClendon was cast as a maverick–a wildcatter who threw money around on $300 champagne lunches and managed to grow the company beyond his ability to run it. The problem with that view is the truth of what’s happened to Chesapeake since McClendon’s departure. Corporate raider Carl Icahn is the one controlling Chessy these days–for his own personal benefit. Icahn and his lieutenant CEO Doug Lawler have sold off key assets right and left and fired thousands–actions that don’t have squat to do with improving the financial health of the company. It only improves Icahn’s per share value.
McClendon, less than a year from being unceremoniously dumped by Icahn, has a new company with $3 billion of OPM (other people’s money) in his hip pocket to spend on drilling “at least” 1,600 Utica Shale wells in Ohio. McClendon’s new venture, called American Energy Partners, has already amassed 260,000 acres of leases in less than a year, on which to drill those 1,600+ Utica wells. McClendon right now has drilling rigs on the job in Ohio. The man does not let any grass grow under his feet (or on his drill pads). Here’s an update on Aubrey McClendon, a Utica Shale man in motion…
