Chesapeake Energy’s 2Q profit nearly doubles

July 28, 2011

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Thursday that its second-quarter net income nearly doubled as production increased and prices rose for oil and natural gas liquids.

The Oklahoma City energy producer said net income totaled $467 million, or 68 cents per common share, in the April-to-June quarter. That compared with net income of $235 million, or 37 cents a share, a year ago.

Total revenue rose 65 percent to $3.32 billion from $2.01 billion.

Special items included a $122 million loss related to the purchase of senior notes and a loss on foreign currency derivatives. Excluding those, Chesapeake said its earnings were $528 million, or 76 cents per share, in the most recent quarter.

The company said its average daily production totaled 3.05 billion cubic feet equivalent, an increase of 9 percent from the year-ago quarter.

The company recorded an 8 percent drop in the average, realized price for natural gas while the average combined realized price for oil and natural gas liquids rose 6 percent.

Chesapeake forecast 2011 natural gas production of 1.17 trillion cubic feet equivalent and 2012 production of 1.35 trillion cubic feet.

Separately, Chesapeake announced it has made a liquids discovery in the Utica Shale region and said it believes its 1.25 million net acres in the region could be worth $15 billion to $20 billion in increased value to the company.

Chesapeake released its earnings after the market closed Thursday. Its shares closed up 3 cents at $33.43 and increased 59 cents in after-hours trading.

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