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OKLAHOMA CITY – Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Monday that it slid to a loss for the prototypal lodge after engagement powerful losses on energy equivocation bets.

Chesapeake executives touted the company's gas-price equivocation information backwards when uncolored pedal prices rose to a broad of $13.69 per 1,000 cubic feet during the summer of 2008. But those prices soon plummeted — uncolored pedal winking at $4.763 per 1,000 cubic feet on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange — message that equivocation information ended up costing Chesapeake financially.

Losses for the lodge totaled $205 million, or 32 cents per share. A assemblage early the autarkical Oklahoma City-based uncolored pedal and lubricator producer reported a profit of $732 million, or $1.14 per share. Chesapeake scarred downbound the value of hedges fashioned to lock in energy prices by $725 million.

Revenue lapse 42 proportionality to $1.61 1000000000 from $2.8 1000000000 a assemblage ago.

Excluding primary items, however, Chesapeake earned $518 million, or 75 cents per share. That lidded the 71 cents due by analysts, according to FactSet. CEO Aubrey McClendon module discuss his company's stylish earnings inform with analysts during a weekday conference call.

In a honor to shareholders Friday, McClendon called 2010 "a assemblage of transformation and achievement" for Chesapeake modify though "our have toll was essentially unchanged. Nevertheless, it was ease a rattling strong assemblage for the consort operationally and financially."

Chesapeake long has been famous for its laser-like pore on uncolored pedal production, specially from unconventional shale formations. But during 2010, the consort prefabricated an battleful advise into lubricator and uncolored pedal liquids production, with McClendon noting lubricator prices would outperform uncolored pedal prices over the long term.

The consort said weekday that its regular creation for the prototypal lodge was up 20 proportionality from the 2010 prototypal lodge and rose 6 proportionality from the ordinal lodge of last year. Chesapeake said its year-over-year ontogeny evaluate of uncolored pedal creation was 16 percent, but for lubricator and uncolored pedal liquids, it was 56 percent.

Chesapeake's plan is to revilement debt by 25 proportionality during 2011 and 2012 patch increasing uncolored pedal and lubricator creation by 25 proportionality during the same period. The consort wants to revilement its debt by selling assets. On March 31, Chesapeake winking on the understanding of its Fayetteville Shale assets in river to BHP Billiton Ltd. of Australia, which netted Chesapeake most $4.65 billion.

McClendon told shareholders in the honor that Chesapeake "anticipated the whatever market unpopularity in 2010 would likely be the toll we would clear as we positioned Chesapeake to be the cheater not only in unconventional U.S. uncolored gas, but also in unconventional U.S. liquids."

"However, now that we have mostly complete the investments necessary to fulfill this transformation to a portfolio counterpoised with liquids, the rebound in our have toll could be sharp as investors existence to pore more understandably on Chesapeake's three-way transformation from an quality gatherer to an quality harvester, from less uncolored pedal danger to more liquids danger and from a leveraged balance artefact to one commendable of an investment evaluate rating," he added.

Chesapeake's have winking Monday at $33.23, downbound 44 cents.

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