Chesapeake To Slow Land Buying, Sell Assets In 2011 - Executive

Chesapeake Energy Corp.(CHK) plans to slow spending on land in 2011 while raising cash through joint ventures and a sale of pipeline assets to a subsidiary, a company executive told investors on Wednesday.

The Oklahoma City company spent about $5 billion on energy-producing properties in 2010 as it scrambled to stake out positions in lucrative oil-producing shale formations, John Kilgallon said during a webcast presentation to investors.

"We think the gas land grab is certainly long gone and we think the liquids land grab is largely over in the first half of 2011," said Kilgallon, who is investor relations and research manager. "You're going to see a dramatic reduction in spending."

Analysts and investors sometimes criticize Chesapeake as spending too freely on oil and gas leases. But company officials argue that they have historically been able to recoup those outlays by selling minority stakes in the properties, such as Chesapeake did when Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) paid $2.16 billion in October for a one-third interest in its south Texas oil fields.

Chesapeake says its joint-venture sales amounted to $4.4 billion in 2010.

Kilgallon said Chesapeake plans soon to announce a new joint venture that will be similar to the Cnooc pact on its acreage in the Niobrara shale formation, which spreads over parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas. And it anticipates making a separate deal to sell a stake in an unnamed shale play that includes more than one million acres, Kilgallon said.

Chesapeake will also likely sell assets to Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP (CHKM) in a deal similar to last month's $500 million drop-down of Louisiana pipelines to the subsidiary, Kilgallon said.

"You're going to see much more cash that is flowing into the company along with the reduced leasehold spending," he said.

Shares of Chesapeake traded up 28 cents, or 1.1%, at $26.50 on Wednesday.

-By Ryan Dezember, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208;

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