This is the week that Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy will formally emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy it filed last June and the company has made it clear it intends to be a different operation.
Under a presentation for investors, the company boldly stated in a topic headline, “Chesapeake’s Path to Emergence is Clear.”
Another declared, “Chesapeake Today: A Fundamentally Different Company” and boasted of consistent returns and a sustainable future. The presentation described the company as a “low-cost operator built to generate sustainable free cash flow from a strong balance sheet.”
That wasn’t the case last spring when it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court. It listed billions of dollars of debt and by December 2020, the debtors reported total liabilities of approximately $11.8 billion.
But a bankruptcy court okayed the reorganization plan in mid-January 2021. Since then, Chesapeake even joined the environmental movement in the oil and gas industry by pledging to eliminate “routine flaring on all wells completed from 2021 forward.” It also vowed targeted reduction of GHG (Green House Gas) intensity and methane intensity by 2025.
Its attempt to attract new investors included an intention to initiate its first electric frac in 2021 and the “opportunity to implement enterprise-wide.”
The company had stated that its remaining milestones over its bankruptcy included “finalize exit financing” and “Emerge from bankruptcy” in the week of February 8, 2021.
In late January, the company leaders held meetings with “certain institutional investors” then offered $1 billion in senior notes to fund its emergence from bankruptcy.
But the company also laid off 220 workers after the offering of the senior notes, saying it was necessary to come out of bankruptcy.
The Sunday Oklahoman reported that Chesapeake planned a news release on Monday to announce its reorganization plan does not include selling any of its unoccupied buildings at its massive campus in north Oklahoma City.
However, Chesapeake hired the firm of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Oklahoma to search for a firm or firms that might locate on the campus. (Click here for the Oklahoman story.)
