Chesapeake receives federal subpoena
BY EDWARD KLUMP Bloomberg News
Friday, August 10, 2012
8/10/12 at 6:10 AM
Chesapeake Energy Corp. received a subpoena in June from the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department's Midwest Field Office, according to a regulatory filing Thursday by the Oklahoma City-based natural gas producer.
News of the subpoena comes amid an investigation into possible violations of antitrust laws related to the purchase of oil and gas rights, the company said in the regulatory filing.
The request calls for Chesapeake to provide certain documents to a grand jury in the Western District of Michigan, the company said.
Chesapeake also has gotten demands for documents and information from some state government agencies related to other investigations of buying and leasing oil and gas rights, according to the filing.
Reuters and Bloomberg News reported last month that Chesapeake and Encana Corp. were under investigation by the Justice Department for possible collusion. The news organizations cited a person familiar with the probe.
The alleged collusion involved discussions between the two natural gas companies over how to avoid bidding against each other for drilling rights in a public land auction in Michigan and in nine prospective deals with private land owners in the state, according to the report.
Encana, Canada's largest gas producer, said on June 25 that it began an internal review of e-mails from 2010 between Encana and Chesapeake executives concerning bidding strategies for Michigan drilling rights.
