Chesapeake Plans To Double Oil, Liquids Production By 2015

On February 22, 2012 — No comments

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) said it plans to more than double its oil and liquids production by 2015 as the natural gas giant aims to become one of top five U.S. oil producers.

Chesapeake and other oil and gas companies are fleeing natural gas fields amid a supply glut that has brought prices to low levels not seen in years. Chesapeake said it plans to produce about 250,000 barrels a day of oil and natural gas liquids by 2015, up from about 104,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter.

Chesapeake said it plans to increase its activities in the increasingly important oil and gas fields in the Eagle Ford region of south Texas and the Utica shale formation in the Midwest and Northeast.

In the Eagle Ford, Chesapeake has 178 producing wells and a backlog of 200 more, the company said. The Oklahoma City-based company plans to have 20 rigs operating in the Utica shale this year, up from eight in 2011.

Chesapeake said it would finance its expansion into relatively new oil fields by selling some or all of its 1.5 million net acres in the Permian Basin in west Texas and New Mexico. Chesapeake said it also hopes to announce a joint venture this summer focused on its acreage in the Mississippi Lime oil and gas field in Oklahoma and Kansas.

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