Martha Burger 
Senior Vice President – 
Human and Corporate Resources
What innovations and advancements have led to CHK’s ability to produce liquids from 
shales and other tight reservoirs? 
During the past five years, Chesapeake and a few other leaders in the independent E&P industry have developed 
expertise in exploiting shales and other tight reservoir formations targeting natural gas through the combination of 
horizontal drilling and advanced fracture stimulation techniques. This has allowed the commercialization of plays that 
were previously uneconomic, most notably in shale formations. Part of our success in producing liquids from tight 
reservoirs has come from the company’s ability to extend the technological advances gained in the development of 
tight natural gas formations to new formations known to contain substantial liquids. This led to our first liquids-rich 
play discovery in the Colony Granite Wash in 2007. As we have increased our focus on liquids-rich plays, we have ben-
efited from a growing understanding and mapping of petrophysical properties in unconventional formations as well 
as an enhanced understanding of the geochemical nature of liquids-rich reservoirs. This has allowed Chesapeake to 
better identify formations most likely to generate liquids-rich production, including more than a dozen new plays for 
the company. We have subsequently improved the success of our liquids-rich plays through the use of optimal well-
bore lateral lengths, better placement of well laterals though advanced wellbore steering techniques and customized 
fracture stimulation designs for liquids-rich plays that allow the company to achieve a greater stimulated rock volume 
in low permeability reservoirs. Finally, the advancements Chesapeake has made in developing liquids-rich plays have 
been made possible through the use of our proprietary Reservoir Technology Center that has become the industry’s most advanced shale core laboratory.
It is often said that the energy industry has an aging work force that is fast approaching 
retirement age. How is Chesapeake addressing this? 
It is no secret that there is a shortage of experienced professionals in the natural gas and oil industry. The industry down-
turn of the 1980s and 1990s discouraged many from pursuing energy careers. In the following decades, strong compe-
tition from other industries lured away many of the best and brightest science and technology graduates, and today  
many experienced professionals who stayed in the industry through the downturn are approaching retirement age. 
As a result, one of our industry’s greatest challenges over the past 10 years has been to develop a new generation 
of natural gas and oil professionals who have the knowledge and experience required to meet the nation’s growing 
energy needs.
In 2000 Chesapeake was one of the first companies to recognize this trend and to understand how recruiting 
and training a new generation of energy professionals would impact the company’s future success and its ability to 
compete in the industry. At that time, Chesapeake formulated a business strategy to address future staffing needs 
and decided to create a world-class college recruiting and intern program to recruit the most promising industry 
talent. Today, Chesapeake hosts more than 150 interns every summer in its internship program, many of whom go 
on to become full-time Chesapeake employees upon graduation. In addition, we have 350 students who receive 
scholarships through Chesapeake programs, and our staff of college recruiters has developed strong relationships with professors, department heads 
and career counselors at the more than 31 universities where we actively recruit.
As a result of these efforts, young professionals in a wide range of disciplines, from scientists and engineers to land management and legal