CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

The nations’ second largest natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp has sold $4.75 Billion in assets to BHP Billiton. The Oklahoma City-based company located within the Fayetteville shale reported that it would be selling most of its shares within that region located in Arkansas. Chesapeake Energy had a heavy influence in West Virginia and throughout the Kanawha Valley and was one of the first natural gas companies to capitalize on the Marcellus Shale’s discovery. The former Fortune 500 company had Charleston in position to become Chesapeake’s Energy’s east coast headquarters.

But a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed buy a coalition of land owners and lawyers made Chesapeake officials re-evaluate its financial position in West Virginia. The lawsuit filed was actually against former gas subsidiary Columbia/NiSource, but when Chesapeake bought out Columbia Gas, it inherited the legal issues associated with the company, hence the lawsuits associated with Columbia. The case went all the way to the State Supreme Court and judges ruled in favor of the land owners, triggering a major corporate pull-out by Chesapeake leading to an emotional lay-off of over 200 longtime employees.

Chesapeake announced earlier this month it was interested in selling the assets so that it could focus its efforts on higher-margin oil assets. The Australia-based BHP Billiton is the world's biggest mining company.