Chesapeake’s McClendon Said in E-Mail Firm Overpaid for Leases

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

The Oklahoma City-based company has been shifting drilling rigs away from gas deposits such as the Haynesville Shale toward more profitable oilfields in Ohio and Oklahoma. Chesapeake warned investors last month that it may run out of cash as soon as next year if it fails to divest $7.4 billion in assets by the end of December.