"Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to convey its interests in the Barnett Shale operating area located in North Texas to Saddle Barnett Resources, LLC ("Saddle Resources"), a company backed by First Reserve, a leading global private equity and infrastructure investment firm exclusively focused on energy, and simultaneously terminate future commitments associated with this asset," Chesapeake said on Wednesday.
According to the company’s release, the move will increase its operating income by approximately $200 to $300 million annually in 2016-2019. It will also cut down 2016-2017 expenses by over $700 million.
Earlier this year, Chesapeake’s founder and former CEO Aubrey McClendon, who left the company in 2013, was charged by the US Department of Justice with conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma in 2007-2012.
McClendon died in a car crash in Oklahoma City in March.
