Chesapeake enters joint venture with StatoilHydro for shale gas
US independent gas producer Chesapeake Energy is entering into a joint venture with Norway's StatoilHydro to look for
shale natural gas plays outside the US, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon revealed.
McClendon said his Oklahoma City-based company, the second largest gas producer in the US, will contribute technology
and expertise to complement StatoilHydro's international breadth in a 50/50 joint venture to exploit gas shales
worldwide.
"I see this news as most encouraging," McClendon said, predicting the world will start to transaction away from crude
oil to natural gas for fuel.
Chesapeake is already the top lease holder in two US shale plays -- Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale and Louisiana's
Haynesville Shale -- and the number two operator in the US's two other big shale finds, Texas' Barnett Shale and
Arkansas' Fayetteville Shale.
StatoilHydro is already involved in a Marcellus Shale joint venture with Chesapeake.
In November, the Norwegian company paid $ 1.25 bn up front and agreed to pay $ 2.13 bn worth of Chesapeake's costs in
return for a 33 % stake in Chesapeake's Marcellus returns.
