Chesapeake to Sell Acres in Oklahoma Oil Fields

By DANIEL GILBERT October 11, 2012, 2:50 p.m. ET

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is selling a chunk of its holdings in Oklahoma as the cash-strapped natural-gas producer continues to trim acreage to raise money for drilling.

The Oklahoma City-based company is selling drilling rights to more than 28,000 acres in western Oklahoma, in an area abutting its "Hogshooter" oil discovery, which the company touted in June. The package for sale includes some of Chesapeake's 30,000 Hogshooter net acres; it doesn't include a well the company boasted to be among the best in drilled decades in the continental U.S.

A Chesapeake spokesman said the property for sale is a "small, noncore package of acreage and not connected to our significant Hogshooter discovery."

The sale wouldn't change the company's drilling plans or budget, he added.

The move is another sign that Chesapeake is trimming its vast land holdings—which span more than 15 million acres across the country—to raise cash for its operations and reduce capital spending. Chesapeake, the country's second-biggest natural-gas producer after Exxon Mobil Corp., continues to grapple with gas prices that hover near decade lows and is shifting to produce more-profitable oil.

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