June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second- biggest U.S. independent natural-gas producer, agreed to pay about $178 million to jointly develop Goodrich Petroleum Corp.'s properties in the Haynesville Shale formation of Louisiana.

Chesapeake, which also agreed to buy another producer's stake in one of the properties, will operate the joint venture, the companies said today in a statement. The transaction with Houston-based Goodrich is scheduled to close by July 15, and the venture will start horizontal drilling in the third quarter.

Chesapeake said in March that the Haynesville shale may be its most promising discovery, based on two years of technical analysis and drilling. The Goodrich venture will give Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake a 50 percent stake in deep rights to two fields in northwestern Louisiana. Chesapeake said it intends to drill as many as 440 horizontal wells on the acreage.

The Haynesville Shale may rival the quality and scope of the Barnett Shale of north Texas, where production is 3 billion cubic feet of gas a day and rising, Calgary-based EnCana Corp. said today in a statement. EnCana, Canada's largest gas producer, said its 325,000 net acres of Haynesville holdings may yield 1 billion cubic feet of daily gas output.

Chesapeake shares rose $1.80, or 3 percent, to $61.06 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Goodrich climbed $1.50, or 2.6 percent, to $58.55 and has more than doubled in market value this year.

Devon Energy Corp. is the biggest U.S. gas producer among independents, companies that don't own refineries or chemicals plants.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 16, 2008 16:24 EDT