Domestic crude oil production has increased rapidly over the past five years, reversing half a century of declines.

At the same time, there has been increasing discussion about the country’s renewable energy potential.

To help the public better understand the issues, Oklahoma City communications firm Saxum created a map of the country’s energy production and potential.

“Our US of Energy map is intended to be a conversation starter — an opportunity to begin telling the awesome, positive story of America’s domestic energy revival,” Blake Jackson, vice president of digital at Saxum, said on the company’s blog.

A Saxum team spent five weeks researching and crafting the design before putting everything together.

“What began as a simple graphic showcasing America’s energy riches quickly grew into a two-sided, folded map concept displaying thousands of individual data points,” Jackson said.

The updated, high-resolution pictures show far more detail of what NASA calls the black marble, or the earth at night. The images are a compilation of satellite photos taken in April and October.

I get geeked out about looking at cities and patterns, including stark contrasts east and west of I-35 on the U.S. map and of how dark places like Africa, Australia and North Korea are on the global map.

I am especially struck by how visible the oil and gas drilling activity is throughout the United States. Offshore production platforms dot the Gulf of Mexico, especially near New Orleans.

The brightest oil patch on the map is the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana. The huge field stands out bright against the relatively dark northern plains.

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc. is the largest player in the field, which is one of the fastest-growing in the world.

Chesapeake will sell its partnership interests in subsidiary Chesapeake Midstream Partners to Global Infrastructure Partners for $2 billion.

The company also announced agreements to sell natural gas gathering and processing assets to Chesapeake Midstream and its stake in Chesapeake Midstream Development LP to Global Infrastructure. Those deals are expected to net more than $2 billion.

“We have been working for the past few months to monetize our substantial and valuable midstream assets and are pleased to announce the sale of our investments in CHKM and a plan to sell our remaining midstream assets at attractive prices,” Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon said.

He said Chesapeake’s ongoing asset sales program is on track to bring in as much as $14 billion this year.

“With our Permian asset sale, Mississippi Lime JV and other miscellaneous asset sales still to come in the second half of the year, we feel very good about our ability to meet our targeted range for 2012 asset sales. “

The Oklahoma City-based oil and natural gas producer has been facing heavy criticism from investors and analysts over the past couple of months amid media scrutiny of the complicated financial dealings of the company and McClendon.

Chesapeake relented to demand from its two largest shareholders this week when it announced plans to replace four of its board members by June 22.

Speaking on CNBC, Ward compared the area to the Bakken of North Dakota and Montana, where production companies led by Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc. have doubled the size of the country’s oil reserves.
“We’re anticipating that peak production in the Mississippian Lime play will be around 500,000 barrels of oil (per day) before 2020,” Ward said.

SandRidge is the largest player in the Mississippian, followed by fellow Oklahoma City firms Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Devon Energy Corp.

Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens isn’t bullish on natural gas, but he isn’t ready to write off struggling gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Pickens told CNBC’s Squawk Box he expects Chesapeake to make it through its current cash crunch behind “visionary” CEO Aubrey McClendon.

“He gets over his skis sometimes, but don’t bet against Aubrey. They’ll pull it out.”

Pickens said Chesapeake should not have any trouble selling its valuable holdings in west Texas’ oil-rich Permian Basin, which he expects to draw about $6 billion.

The Holdenville native also backed off previous comments about ending his lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., because of the country’s continued failure to establish a national energy policy.

He has been pushing for legislation that would favor domestic natural gas as fuel for heavy trucks rather than diesel made from imported oil, as detailed in his Pickens Plan.

“What I said was when I get through with this project, I’m finished. I’m not going to go back and ask for anything again. I said I was going to retire from Washington.”

Pickens said he would continue to talk to lawmakers about energy policy because it is an important national security issue.

“I do understand energy, I think, better than anybody in the United States. I’m trying to help.”

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon speaks at a 2010 energy conference.

Aubrey McClendon is no stranger to criticism.

But the Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO may be approaching the point of no return at the company he co-founded as questions about his stewardship continue to rise.

McClendon already is being replaced as chairman of Chesapeake’s board amid a review of as much as $1.1 billion in personal loans secured by his stake in company wells. Some of the loan deals involved private equity firms that have invested in Chesapeake, according to an April 18 Reuters report.

Now McClendon has been linked to a hedge fund that operated within Chesapeake for at least five years, possibly without the knowledge of the company’s board.

McClendon did not address Reuters’ hedge fund report during Wednesday’s first quarter earnings call, but Sterne Agee analyst Tim Rezvan said McClendon cannot remain silent.

“We did not expect a response from the company on the revelation that CEO Aubrey McClendon operated a commodities trading hedge fund during 2004-08. But we believe one is necessary, as it has further unnerved investors.

“We believe that this news could ultimately result in McClendon’s removal as CEO.”

Motley Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer is going a step further, insisting there is only one thing for Chesapeake to do in light of the latest report

“There’s only one solution to the problem: Aubrey McClendon needs to go. Now.”

Koppenheffer also said Chesapeake should replace most of its board.

The company already plans to add an independent chairman to replace McClendon at the head of the board, while directors Burns Hargis and Richard Davidson could be voted out at next month’s shareholders meeting.

Change at Chesapeake may not be driven solely by shareholders, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service and possibly even the Justice Department are reportedly looking around the company.

The Oklahoma City-based oil and natural gas company has hired strategic communications expert George Sard, according to the Huffington Post. Sard was dubbed the “spinmeister of the apocalyse” by Portfolio magazine in 2009.

Sard’s former clients include disgraced New York Gov. Elliott Spitzer, Martha Stewart and Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff.

Chesapeake and CEO Aubrey McClendon may not be as notorious as that trio, but McClendon has spent much of the past two weeks at the center of conflict of interest claims.

First came an April 18 Reuters report about up to $1.1 billion in personal loans secured by McClendon using his stake in the company’s wells as collateral. He used the loans to pay for his participation in the Founder Well Participation Program, which allows him to take a 2.5 percent stake in every Chesapeake well. Two of the lenders are private equity firms who also business with Chesapeake.

McClendon has since agreed to end the well program before it was set to expire at the end of 2015 and cede his position as Chesapeake’s board chairman in favor of an independent replacement.

Another Reuters report  Wednesday detailed a $200 million hedge fund operated inside Chesapeake by McClendon and co-founder Tom Ward, who is now CEO of Oklahoma City’s SandRidge Energy Inc.

The questions swirling around McClendon’s decision in those instances have pushed Chesaepeake’s stock to its lowest level in three years.

Sounds like Sard will have his work cut out for him.

He didn’t mention the latest special report from Reuters, which indicates he ran a $200 million hedge fund on the side between 2004 and 2008.

A veteran trader told the wire service that McClendon was involved in the fund’s operation on a “near daily” basis,” making “exhaustive” calls to direct its trading in the same commodities produced by Chesapeake.

Heritage Management Co. LLC was started by McClendon and Chesapeake co-founder Tom Ward, who is now CEO of SandRidge Energy Inc.

McClendon did not comment for the Reuters report, while Ward said there was nothing wrong with the arrangement.

A commodity market regulation expert quoted by Reuters saw things differently.

“An executive’s first responsibility is to shareholders and the betterment of their investment,” said Carl Holland, who ran the trading-compliance department at former U.S. oil major Texaco. “Personal trading in the commodity around which the CEO’s business is based would be a clear no. We would never have tolerated that, ever.”

Chesapeake accounts for about 5 percent of U.S. natural gas production, Reuters noted, so the company has “tremendous sway” over gas markets.

Sterne Agee analyst Tim Rezvan said the disclosure of the hedge fund activity, if correct, would be even more alarming than reports of the personal loans McClendon secured from private equity firms that also have dealings with Chesapeake.

The EPA report is the result of an investigation that began in spring 2008 after residents of Pavillion, Wyo., complained about smells, tastes and adverse changes in their water quality.

Canada-based Encana Corp., which has been active in the Pavillion area, maintains the water wells in the area have not been adversely impacted by oil and natural gas development. The company noted the U.S. Geological Survey reported poor water quality in Pavillion as far back as the 1880s.

Wyoming officials also objected to the report, claiming EPA’s tests were inadequate, so new tests began last month.

The NRDC report indicates tests by independent hydrologist Tom Myers has confirmed the water contamination was caused by hydraulic fracturing, a process used to unlock oil and natural gas reserves from dense rock. Myers also concluded the EPA investigation was scientifically sound.

“These findings only serve to underscore why we need strong rules on the books that safeguard the American public from drinking water threats from fracking — including closing the Halliburton loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act that allows the oil and gas industry to cut corners and put our water supplies at risk. We look forward to the final EPA report after continued investigation and peer review,” according to NRDC’s staff blog.

 The oil and gas industry maintains hydraulic fracturing does not affect groundwater because of the way wells are constructed. Officials also have fought against federal regulation of the process, arguing state oversight is sufficient to protect the environment.

Energy in Depth, an industry-sponsored public outreach campaign, questioned Myers’ findings because of his ties to well known shale industry critic

BMO Capital Markets analysts Dan McSpirit upgraded the stock to “outperform.”

Chesapeake has drawn scrutiny from Wall Street over the past two weeks after revelations that CEO Aubrey McClendon used his personal stake in Chesapeake wells as collateral for personal loans without fully disclosing the information.

Despite the potential conflicts of interest, McSpirit said Chesapeake “is a company with a deep and wide asset base, and one that has fundamental value, in our opinion.”

Chesapeake’s stock price has tumbled 48 percent since August largely because of falling natural gas prices. McSpirit said the stock price is too low.

Chesapeake “presents an attractive opportunity for investors looking to venture out on this risk curve,” he said.

The stock price jumped after the upgrade, closing up 72 cents, or 4 percent, to $18.44 on the Nasdaq.