A Decade After Aubrey McClendon Caught The ‘Tiger By The Tail’ — Chespeake Energy Returns To Haynesville Shale With Big Acquisition

A Decade After Aubrey McClendon Caught The ‘Tiger By The Tail’ — Chespeake Energy Returns To Haynesville Shale With Big Acquisition

Freshly emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chesapeake Energy today announced a deal to acquire publicly traded Vine Energy for $2. 2 billion, or $15 per share. In the deal, Chesapeake gets nearly 100, 000 acres in the shale gas basin of Louisiana known as the Haynesville. Chesapeake shares are up 1% on the deal, which interim CEO Mike Wichterich in the announcement today referred to as a "consolidation." That term is frankly comical considering Chesapeake's long history in the Haynesville and the many other operators there. It was back in 2007, after Chesapeake first deployed its army of land men to acquire vast acreage in the Haynesville, that late co-founded Aubrey McClendon declared "we knew that we had a tiger by the tail." The Haynesville become one of the leading plays of the shale boom, ramping up to produce more than 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (output has since fallen to 3 bcfd). Chesapeake was far from the only operator in the Haynesville. During the same time Royal Dutch Shell and Encana (now Ovintiv) also acquired land in the heart of the play and entered into a joint venture. But it wasn't long until the bloom