However, after posting that, "anonymous" commented that CHK had acquired 150,000 acres in North Dakota (corrected: I had originally said "the Bakken. "Anonymous" and CHK both say "North Dakota," not "the Bakken"). I completely missed that story, but it appears that I was not the only one. Here is a blog entry from Energy Connections:
Chesapeake Energy is a major player in the horizontal drilling of shale plays in almost all US plays, except the Bakken. That might be starting to change with this latest development between Bronco Drilling and Chesapeake. With a price tag of $315 million, a deal has been made between the two companies. Bronco Drilling currently owns 22 rigs, these rigs are mostly in the Bakken and the Anadarko basin. Chesapeake may not own mineral acreage in the Bakken but one can bet that their involvement through the drilling services will be noticed in Bakken.Well, it turns out that "anonymous" comment that CHK had acquired 150,000 acres in North Dakota (corrected; see above) is correct. See CHK's April, 2011, corporation presentation, slide 3:
CHK established a >150,000 net acre position in the Williston Basin at an attractive cost.In addition, "anonymous" hints that there will be more to follow. In the same CHK presentation, this little nugget:
- In just the past 18 months, CHK has captured leading positions in 5 of the 6 best
- unconventional oil plays in the U.S.
- #2 in the Eagle Ford with 445,000 net acres and 3.0 bboe of unrisked unproved resources
- #2 in the Niobrara with 535,000 net acres and 3.4 bboe of unrisked unproved resources
- #1 in the Anadarko with 1,460,000 net acres and 4.9 bboe of unrisked unproved resources
- #1 in the Permian (unconventional) with 560,000 net acres and 1.3 bboe of unrisked unproved
- resources
- #1 in an unnamed big liquids play (details to come later in 2011) with >1,000,000 net acres
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Closing up loose ends:
According to CHK's 3Q10 earnings conference call, three things:
- CHK announced 100,000-net acre acquisition in North Dakota (corrected; see above) (I missed that until now)
- CHK said it had a one-million-acre acquisition that will have worldwide interest, but can't announce it until in 2011
- CHK said it won't state publicly who it acquired the 100,000 net North Dakota (correct; see above) acres from, but specifically and emphatically said it was not Anshcutz (it appears my assumption that OXY USA bought Anshutz acreage in the Bakken is accurate)
By the way, back in 2008, Continental Resources acquired 4 million bbls of proved reserves from Chesapeake in the Bakken, according to the Motley Fool:
Continental Resources, which was early into the [Bakken] play, topped up its position in January, 2008], with a $60 million purchase of producing properties from Chesapeake Energy. Continental picked up 4 million barrels of proved reserves at $15 million a pop.