traded as nyse chk s & p 500 component industry petroleum industry founded 1989 1989 founder aubrey mcclendon and tom l. ward headquarters oklahoma city key people archie w. dunham chairman robert douglas lawler ceo douglas j. jacobson vice president domenic j. dell osso jr. cfo douglas jacobson vice president 1 products petroleum natural gas production output 679 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 4 150 000 gj per day 2015 1 revenue us 12.764 billion 2015 1 operating income us 18.919 billion 2015 1 net income us 14.635 billion 2015 1 total assets us 17.357 billion 2015 1 total equity us 2.397 billion 2015 1 number of employees 4 400 1 website www.chk.com the pier 1 imports building in fort worth texas where chesapeake leases approximately 100 000 square feet of space . 2 chesapeake energy corporation is a petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in oklahoma city oklahoma . the company was founded in 1989 by aubrey mcclendon and tom l. ward with only a 50 000 initial investment . mcclendon named the company due to his love of the chesapeake bay region . 3 ward later left the company to found sandridge energy . contents 1 current operations 2 history 3 controversies 3.1 antitrust allegations 3.1.1 alleged collusion and fraud charges in michigan 3.1.2 underpayment of royalties to landowners 3.1.3 alleged collusion in oklahoma 3.2 possible conflicts of interest by ex ceo aubrey mcclendon 3.3 lobbying 3.4 environmental damage 3.4.1 discharges of fill material 3.4.2 bradford county pennsylvania well blowout 3.4.3 landslide 4 awards and recognition 5 sponsorships 6 references 7 external links current operations edit the company s properties are divided into two operating segments the southern division and the northern division . 1 the northern division which accounted for 42 % of total production volumes in 2015 and 39 % of total proved reserves at december 31 2015 includes the acreage in the following areas utica shale in ohio and pennsylvania 18 % of total proved reserves 1 marcellus shale in the northern appalachian basin in pennsylvania 17 % of total proved reserves 1 niobrara shale in the powder river basin in wyoming 1 the southern division which accounted for 58 % of total production volumes in 2015 and 61 % of total proved reserves at december 31 2015 includes the acreage in the following areas eagle ford shale in south texas 24 % of total proved reserves 1 anadarko basin in northwestern oklahoma and the texas panhandle 1 haynesville bossier shales in northwestern louisiana and east texas 1 barnett shale in the fort worth basin in north central texas 1 in 2015 the company produced 679 thousand barrels of oil equivalent 4 150 000 gj per day which was 72 % natural gas 17 % petroleum and 11 % natural gas liquids . 1 as of december 31 2015 the company had 1.504 billion barrels of oil equivalent 9.20 109 gj of estimated proved reserves of which 73 % was natural gas and 27 % was petroleum and natural gas liquids . 1 history edit the company was founded in 1989 by aubrey mcclendon and tom l. ward with only a 50 000 initial investment . mcclendon named the company due to his love of the chesapeake bay region . 3 ward later left the company to found sandridge energy . 1990s by the time the company went public via an initial public offering in 1993 it was valued at 25 million . 4 focusing on a strategy of drilling horizontal natural gas wells in unconventional reservoirs the company built a sizable position in the golden trend and sholem alechem fields of south central oklahoma and in the giddings field of southeast texas . 5 in the mid 1990s the company attempted to extend the austin chalk play into western and central louisiana but struggled to do so . 6 in 1997 the company wrote down the value of its assets by over 200 million approximately equal to shareholder s equity at the time due to low commodity prices and implemented a turnaround plan . 7 2000s the rise in natural gas prices in the early 2000s allowed the company to focus drilling in areas that were previously not economically feasible . the company focused on unconventional drilling in carbonates tight sandstone and shale particularly in the barnett shale fayetteville shale and marcellus shale . 5 in 2006 chesapeake was added to the s & p 500 replacing dana holding corporation . 8 in 2008 chesapeake announced its discovery of the haynesville shale in east texas and northwestern louisiana . 9 the company celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2009 by partnering with orange county choppers to create the world s first chopper powered by compressed natural gas . 10 2010s in june 2012 the company appointed archie w. dunham as chairman replacing aubrey mcclendon who retained his position as ceo . dunham who retired as chairman of conocophillips in 2004 was appointed in response to shareholder concerns about corporate governance issues under mcclendon s watch . 11 in december 2012 the company sold midstream assets for 2.16 billion . 12 on april 1 2013 aubrey mcclendon was forced to leave the company when revelations that mcclendon had taken a personal stake in chesapeake wells and then used those investments as collateral for up to 1.1 billion in loans from banks that also financed the company . 13 14 in may 2013 robert douglas lawler was named as mcclendon s successor . at the time of the announcement lawler was the senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at anadarko petroleum . steven dixon chesapeake s chief operating officer acted as interim ceo during the replacement search period and at the time of his appointment in late march a three person office of the chairman consisting of dixon chairmen archie dunham and chief financial officer domenic dell osso was formed . 15 in 2013 chesapeake sold 55 000 net acres in the northern eagle ford shale and 9 600 net acres in the haynesville shale to exco for aggregate proceeds of 1 billion . 16 in 2014 chesapeake sold a large portion of its oil and gas assets in the marcellus shale and utica shale to southwestern energy for net proceeds of 4.975 billion . the transaction included approximately 413 000 net acres and 1 500 wells in northern west virginia and southern pennsylvania . net production of the sold assets was 57 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in december 2014 . 17 in 2014 the company also sold additional midstream assets for 520 million . 18 in september 2015 the company announced layoffs of hundreds of people in oklahoma city . 19 on march 2 2016 former ceo and co founder aubrey mcclendon died in a single occupant single vehicle crash when he drove his vehicle straight into a concrete bridge embankment in oklahoma city . 20 21 it occurred the day after a justice department federal grand jury had indicted mcclendon for violating antitrust laws during his leadership at chesapeake . 20 controversies edit antitrust allegations edit alleged collusion and fraud charges in michigan edit in mid 2012 the u.s. department of justice began an investigation into whether encana canada s largest natural gas company illegally colluded with chesapeake energy corp to lower the price of michigan exploration lands during a public land auction in may 2010 . encana s internal investigation determined in 2012 that it did not collude with chesapeake . 22 the investigation ended in 2014 without any charges being filed . 23 on june 5 2014 the state of michigan filed felony fraud and racketeering charges against chesapeake energy alleging that the company canceled hundreds of land leases on false pretenses after it sought to obtain oil and gas rights . 24 michigan attorney general bill schuette claimed that the company obtained uncompensated land options from these landowners by false pretenses and prevented competitors from leasing the land . chesapeake energy disputed all charges . 25 in 2015 the company settled related lawsuits by agreeing to pay 25 million as compensation to landowners with leases . 14 underpayment of royalties to landowners edit the company faces thousands of lawsuits in texas regarding the alleged under payment of royalties due to individuals that rented land to the company . 26 alleged collusion in oklahoma edit on march 1 2016 a us justice department federal grand jury indicted aubrey mcclendon co founder and ex ceo of the company for allegedly rigging the bidding process for land leases while ceo of the company from december 2007 through march 2012 . 14 the indictment says mcclendon orchestrated a conspiracy in which two oil and gas companies not named in the indictment colluded not to bid against each other for the purchase of land in northwestern oklahoma . 20 according to the indictment the companies would decide ahead of time who would win bids with the winner then allocating an interest in the leases to the other company eliminating open competitive bidding . 27 the justice department said this was the first case resulting from a continuing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing bid rigging and other anti competitive conduct in the petroleum industry.william j. baer assistant attorney general for the justice department s antitrust division said his actions put company profits ahead of the interests of leaseholders entitled to competitive bids for oil and gas rights on their land . executives who abuse their positions as leaders of major corporations to organize criminal activity must be held accountable for their actions . 14 mcclendon died the next day on march 2 2016 in a single occupant single vehicle crash when he drove his vehicle straight into a concrete bridge embankment . 20 later that day the oklahoma city police said it was too early to say if the collision was intentional . the charges were dropped by the justice department as a result of the death . 28 possible conflicts of interest by ex ceo aubrey mcclendon edit mcclendon nominated several of his friends including long time childhood friends to the board of the company and made them the highest paid directors in the petroleum industry . in return the board made mcclendon the highest paid ceo of any s & p 500 company awarding him a salary of 112 million . 29 mcclendon had the company develop a shopping center near the company s headquarters and lease space to restaurants part owned by mcclendon . the company used these restaurants for millions of dollars worth of catering business . 29 mcclendon and his family frequently used private jets owned by the company for personal reasons . mcclendon has stated that this was allowed per his employment agreement . 29 when mcclendon needed money he convinced the board to have the company purchase his collection of rare maps hanging in the company s offices for 12 million . 29 an entire department at the company known as akm operations was dedicated to working on personal projects of mcclendon including having his house fixed after a hail storm . 30 the company signed an agreement to pay 3 million per year for the naming and branding rights to the chesapeake energy arena where the oklahoma city thunder play . the company also committed to buy 3 million worth of tickets per year . mcclendon owned a 19 % interest in the team . 30 since mcclendon was a history major and loved history he hired a company historian who made over 100 000 per year . 30 he also hired the world s strongest man who also made over 100 000 per year to promote exercise among company staff . 30 mcclendon borrowed as much as us 1.1 billion against his 2.5 % stake in thousands of company wells from banks that were also lenders to the company . through the founders well participation program mcclendon was able to