McClendon: Chesapeake will raise needed money

McClendon clarified a series of announcements late Friday that startled investors and caused the company's stock price to lose more than $1 billion in value in about 45 minutes.

Chesapeake filed its first quarter report Friday, a day after it had been due. That evening, the company announced it had agreed to a $3 billion unsecured loan.

“The Goldman and Jefferies term loan will provide us with greatly enhanced financial flexibility,” McClendon said Monday.

McClendon also said the company has had strong interest in its planned asset sales and has had to cut off the number of buyers interested in Chesapeake's Permian Basin holdings in the “double digits.”

“We expect those transactions to close in the third quarter, and we will use the proceeds from those transactions to pay off the Goldman and Jefferies loan,” McClendon said. “We also plan to sell sufficient noncore assets in 2013 to make sure we are well-funded next year as we complete our natural gas-to-liquids transition and reach our goal of being cash-flow positive in 2014.”

Chesapeake has chosen to delay or cancel its planned volumetric production payment for the Eagle Ford shale, instead opting to go with the $3 billion loan.

“We decided this unsecured $3 billion term loan, which will provide a long runway into 2012 and allows us to complete our asset monetization from a position of strength was the right way to go,” McClendon said. “That's what we've done. We've applied the proceeds to our (revolving credit facility). We have a lot of room. We have a lot of things planned for June. We have things planed in the third quarter. We'll just play it on out.”