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Chesapeake Energy earnings fall 33.8 percent on lower natural gas prices Wednesday, Nov 7, 2007 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Tuesday reported a 33.8 percent fall in third-quarter earnings, which the company attributed to lower natural gas prices and the expense of rapid growth. Earnings fell to $346.2 million in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, compared to earnings of $522.6 million in the same quarter last year. The Oklahoma City-based energy company has grown considerably over the past year and said that increased administrative and marketing expenses, as well as higher production costs, cut into profits. Earnings exceeded market analysts' expectations, however. Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon said the company would raise its production growth forecast 2 percent to 4 percent over the next two fiscal years. "Our drilling success continues to exceed our expectations and so we are once again increasing our production growth rates for 2007," he said. Chesapeake said better-than-expected well results and an accelerated drilling program in the Fayetteville Shale play have doubled the company's activities in the rock-formation over the past three months. The company disclosed that its drilling success rate was 99 percent for company-operated wells and 97 percent for non-operated wells. Chesapeake is the second-largest leaseholder in the Fayetteville Shale play, and the company is currently using 11 operated rigs to develop its 420,000 net acres in Arkansas. |
