Chesapeake Energy Corp. reported a first-quarter loss after natural-gas and interest-rate hedging contracts more than offset gains from an increase in oil production.
Chesapeake had a loss of $71 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a loss of $205 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier, the Oklahoma City-based company said in a Business Wire statement Tuesday.
Chesapeake jumped 6 percent Tuesday after announcing plans to strip Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon of the chairman’s job and end an executive perk that allowed him to buy personal stakes in every well the company drilled.
McClendon’s plans to slash debt and return Chesapeake to investment-grade ratings were overshadowed by news reports that he borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars against personal stakes in company wells.
The statement was released after the close of regular U.S. stock trading. The company began curtailing some gas output in January and focusing investments on oilfields to produce more crude, which trades for eight times more than gas, on an energy-equivalent basis.
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