XOM Selling Natural Gas Assets in Niobrara; Chesapeake Selling Utica Assets

Link here.

I don't know if this is all of Chesapeake's assets in the Utica or just a percentage.

Also re: XOM and CHK in Wyoming/Colorado --

Recently, the second largest natural gas producer in the U.S., after ExxonMobil Corporation, also announced plans to divest approximately 504,000 net acres of land that includes leases for oil and gas production in the Denver-Julesberg (DJ) Basin of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. The properties set for sale also comprise 29 operated and producing wells in the southern portion of the DJ Basin as well as Chesapeake's share in 24 non-operated wells. Some of the properties are also situated in the Niobrara shale.

This sale of half a million acres of its holdings in the Rocky Mountains covers Chesapeake's entire holdings in northeastern Colorado. The divestiture will enable it to focus more on the development of its 500,000 net acre Niobrara leasehold in the Powder River Basin located in east central Wyoming.

From CHK's 1Q12 earnings call when CHK said it would focus on its #1 positions:

We've now established #1 position in the Utica, Mississippi Lime, Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, Powder River in the Niobrara, Marcellus, Haynesville and Bossier plays. In addition, we have established #2 positions in the Eagle Ford and the Barnett. No one else in the industry has assembled anything close to this scale and quality of an asset portfolio. In short, we've built a very strong foundation of 11 #1 and #2 positions in the nation's best plays.

The Utica was mentioned as a #1 position, which suggested it was not up for sale. The Bakken was not mentioned in that group of 11 plays.