Fitch Ratings Says Chesapeake/Southwestern Megadeal a “Win/Win”
There are three ratings agencies (the “big three”) that rate companies and governments on their financial health, including the ability to borrow money and pay it back. The big three are Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings. Fitch, in a move we have not seen before, issued a press release on Friday commenting on last Thursday’s really big news that Chesapeake is selling 413,000 acres and 435 drilled wells–all of it in the Marcellus/Utica–to Southwestern Energy (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Fitch jumped in with their own analysis of the deal and has pronounced it a “win/win”…
Read More “Fitch Ratings Says Chesapeake/Southwestern Megadeal a “Win/Win””

If you own, or work for, or manage, a small- to medium-sized business, how do you get potentially lucrative new deals from the flourishing Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry? It’s an important question and one we’re often asked. Although there’s no magic–networking and word of mouth and being in the right place at the right time helps–there is one thing that a small or medium-sized business can do to dramatically increase your chances of scoring new business from the shale industry. What is that one thing? Getting an ISNetworld certification. And what the heck is ISNetworld?…
The Chesapeake Energy fire sale continues–and this time it’s cut right into the bone and sinew of the company. The beneficiary of Chesapeake’s ongoing divestiture, this time, is Southwestern Energy. Southwestern has signed a deal to pick up 413,000 (!) Marcellus/Utica acres, most of it in West Virginia with some of it in Washington County, PA. Much of the land is in prime wet gas areas (see the map below). The deal includes 256 (!) operating and producing Marcellus and Utica Shale wells and another 179 (!) non-operated, non-producing wells–a total of 435 drilled wells. Southwestern is paying Chesapeake $5.375 BILLION for the deal–which will make Chesapeake’s real boss, corporate raider Carl Icahn, very happy…