FT: “….a price that was significantly higher than analysts had expected. It has agreed a deal with Southwestern Energy, another US gas producer, to sell drilling rights on 413,000 acres of land in the Marcellus and Utica shales of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”
“The price, averaging about $13,000 per acre, was described as a “blowout” by analysts at UBS, and Chesapeake’s shares soared after the deal was announced. They closed up 16.99 per cent to $20.79 in New York.
Southwestern shares fell after the announcement, dropping 10.42 per cent to to $31.97.
The value of the deal is about 39 per cent of Chesapeake’s market capitalisation before the announcement.
….It is the second-largest gas producer in the US, although since 2010 it has been shifting its resources towards more lucrative oil production.
Its shares have been one of the worse performers among the midsized US oil and gas companies, dropping 33 per cent between the start of the year and the market close on Wednesday before the sale was announced.”
Future Today
