Chesapeake to sell Utica Shale assets

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is putting some of its acreage in the Ohio’s lucrative Utica Shale on the market.

The company is looking to sell more than 330,000 net acres in eastern Ohio, according to a prospectus with Meagher Energy Advisors.

Chesapeake holds more than 1.3 million net acres in the play that officials estimated last year could be worth as much as $20 billion to the company.

 ”This is part of our previously announced plans,” spokesman Jim Gipson said. “We will focus our development on those counties in Ohio where our land ownership is more concentrated than the land ownership in the counties being offered for sale.”

Chesapeake is looking to raise as much as $11.5 billion this year, so  it is selling assets that are outside of its core holdings.

The nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer also is focusing more of its efforts on more lucrative oil and liquids production, although its cash flow issues have caused Chesapeake to scale back some of its drilling plans.

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