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Ascent Resources/EMG Sues Aubrey McClendon’s Law Firm for Fraud
August 12, 2015August 12, 2015

Everybody’s suing everybody. That about sums up the mess created (sadly) by none other than Aubrey McClendon. The subsidiary businesses that were once part of McClendon’s new company, American Energy Partners (AEP), continue to run away from Aubrey as fast as they can. On Monday, Ascent Resources, once called American Energy Appalachia Holdings but separated from the AEP mothership in June (see Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company), sued the law firm representing Aubrey in the “stolen data” case brought by Chesapeake Energy. Yes it’s complicated and it’s a mess. We’ll attempt to sort this all out so it’s understandable…
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American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | Energy Companies

McClendon’s American Energy Partners Gets a New CFO
August 5, 2015August 5, 2015

American Energy Partners, Aubrey McClendon’s new company founded after he was unceremoniously tossed from Chesapeake Energy (the company he co-founded), continues to befuddle us. As we noted in June, some of the subsidiary companies under Aubrey’s AEP umbrella are leaving the nest–even to the point of changing their name so it’s completely dissimilar to AEP (see McClendon’s New Empire Continues to Separate and Leave). Is that Aubrey’s plan playing out? Or are people running as far and fast as they can from McClendon? Frankly, we don’t know. We tend to think it’s the later, to be honest. One of the folks who has left Aubrey behind was AEP’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jennifer Grigsby. She recently left AEP to became CFO of Ascent Resources. Ascent operates in the Marcellus/Utica and used to be American Energy Appalachia Holdings. They are now 100% independent and free from AEP. So McClendon dipped into the Chesapeake talent pool and lured away an old mate he used to work with at Chessy to become the new CFO for AEP–Elliot Chambers…
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American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

We have major news coming from Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP). A lot of news. So buckle in. First we’ll tell you the news, then we’ll give you our take on that news–what it means. In brief, the news coming from AEP HQ in Oklahoma City is this: (1) AEP’s Marcellus/Utica AEP subsidiary, American Energy Appalachia Holdings, has been spun out into a 100% standalone company and has changed its name to Ascent Resources; (2) the CEO of Ascent is the same guy who was the CEO of American Energy Appalachia Holdings–trusted McClendon lieutenant Jeffrey A. Fisher; (3) Ascent has cut a deal with Gulfport Energy to sell 35,000 prime Utica Shale acres for $407 million; and (4) Ascent has just sold shares in the company and taken out new loans for $977 million, giving them $700 million in cash after they pay off certain other loans. Whew! Here’s the details, along with a little news of our own about AEP…
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American Energy Partners | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Details on Gulfport’s Purchase of 35K AEP Utica Acres + New Stock
June 10, 2015June 10, 2015

As we report in our lead story today, Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners has decided to spin out it’s Marcellus/Utica operation into a brand new, 100% independent company. That new company, formerly called American Energy Appalachia Holdings, is now called Ascent Resources. Ascent has turned around and immediately sold 35,325 net acres in prime Utica Shale country–Monroe, Belmont and Jefferson counties in Ohio–to one of AEP’s chief competitors in the Utica, Gulfport Energy. In addition, Gulfport has just announced they are floating another 10 million shares of stock. If the new shares sell for anything close to today’s current share price, that will net the company another $440+ million. Below we have the details (from Gulfport) on the deal with AEP to purchase prime Utica acreage complete with four drilled wells and a pipeline gathering system, along with Gulfport’s announcement about the new stock offering…
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