One has to marvel at how Aubrey McClendon has done, and keeps doing it. The “it” being raising money for drilling holes in the ground. McClendon, as we and others have chronicled over the past several years, was unceremoniously dumped as CEO of the company he co-founded, Chesapeake Energy, by corporate raiders Carl Ichan and Mason Hawkins. Chesapeake is still in the crapper, financially, so we see how that’s turned out. McClendon went on to found American Energy Parnters (AEP), raising billions of dollars of investments for various drilling programs, notably in the Utica Shale. McClendon is about to pull another $500 million rabbit out of his hat. McClendon has just inked a deal with Argentina’s YPF SA to drill 20 wells in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta (translated “dead cow”) shale formation, located in the Patagonian Province of Neuquén. Argentina is the biggest shale gas producer outside of the U.S. In order to seal the deal, McClendon has to raise $500M in the next three months. If anyone can do it, Aubrey can!…
