the company. We have acquired approximately 600,000 net leasehold  
acres prospective for these plays and have drilled 75 net wells to date. 
We are currently using eight rigs and believe our leasehold could sup -
port the drilling of up to an additional 3,700 net wells. 
The Mississippian fractured carbonate is primarily an oil play and is 
located on the Anadarko Basin shelf of northern Oklahoma and southern 
Kansas. We have acquired approximately 900,000 net leasehold acres 
prospective for this play and have drilled 40 net wells to date. We are 
currently using four rigs and believe our leasehold could support the 
drilling of up to an additional 6,000 net wells. This is an area where we 
anticipate bringing in a joint venture partner later in 2011 or in early 2012. 
Bone Spring, Avalon, Wolfcamp and Wolfberry Plays  — These four  
liquids-rich plays of the Permian Basin should also become significant 
contributors to our growth in the years ahead. To date, we have acquired 
approximately 560,000 net leasehold acres that we believe are prospec -
tive for these plays and have drilled 155 net wells. We are currently using 
eight rigs and believe our leasehold could support the drilling of up to  
an additional 4,400 net wells. 
Utica Shale — Chesapeake has high hopes for this emerging shale play 
in eastern Ohio, especially because it would become the fourth large 
unconventional play (along with the Haynesville and Bossier shales  
and the Mississippian carbonate) that Chesapeake has discovered. In 
addition, we believe the play will have three distinct components (oil, 
in cash and drilling carries. This was CNOOC’s second investment with 
Chesapeake and its second investment in the U.S. onshore E&P industry. 
We are currently drilling with five rigs in this play and expect to acceler -
ate our drilling to 15 rigs by year-end 2013. We believe our leasehold 
position could support the drilling of up to 7,600 additional net wells.
Cleveland, Tonkawa and Mississippian Plays  — These three liquids-rich 
plays of the Anadarko Basin should become significant contributors to 
our growth in the years ahead. The Cleveland and Tonkawa plays are 
tight sandstones located in western Oklahoma and the eastern Texas 
Panhandle, and they provide returns that are some of the very best in 
2010 ANNUAL REPORT  |  11
A prime example of Best Management Practices for fracture stimulation, this 
well in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, is now producing natural gas from  
the Marcellus Shale. A closely regulated completion technique, fracking is 
necessary to allow natural gas or oil to freely flow into the wellbore.
Fracking Operations Transparency
Natural gas and oil operations continue to grow and ex- 
pand across the country as vast new resources are un- 
locked through the process of hydraulic fracturing, or 
“fracking,” a proven technology that has been used safely 
and successfully in the completion of more than 1 million 
U.S. wells since 1949.
During the fracking process, a mixture of approximately  
99% water and sand, combined with a small amount of 
chemical additives, is pumped at high pressure into a  
targeted formation to create small fissures or fractures in  
the surrounding rock or shale. These fractures are 
kept propped open by the sand to allow the natural 
gas or oil to freely flow into a wellbore.
In our continuing efforts to educate the public and 
alleviate common misconceptions about hydraulic 
fracturing, Chesapeake became one of the first  
energy companies to disclose the additives used 
in the process. We are actively participating in a  
national, publicly accessible web-based registry 
developed by the Ground Water Protection Council 
and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, 
with support of the U.S. Department of Energy. The 
registry allows for fracking additives to be reported 
on a well-by-well basis and offers public access to  
that material on its website. Chesapeake began