Chesapeake swaps land rights
The No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy (CHK) will give RKI Exploration about 137,000 net acres and its interest in 67 gross wells in north Powder River Basin in exchange for about 203,000 net acres and interests in 186 gross wells in the basin's south, lifting its southern interests to 79% from 38%. Chesapeake also will spend $1.26 bil to buy back all preferred shares issued by its CHK Utica unit, eliminating about $75 mil in annual dividends. Chesapeake, which reports earnings next week, rose 0.8% to 27.06.
