Ahead of the Bell: Chesapeake shares up on outlook

NEW YORK — Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares rose in Wednesday premarket trading, the morning after the natural gas company raised its oil and gas production forecasts for 2009 and 2010 and estimated a strong production boost in 2011.

Shares climbed 46 cents to $29.92 in trading before the opening bell.

On Tuesday after the markets closed, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. said in a regulatory filing that it expects production this year to be 5 percent to 6 percent higher than in 2008, up from an earlier forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent growth.

For 2010, the company expects production growth of 8 percent to 10 percent, up from 7 percent to 8 percent predicted in August. And in its first forecast for 2011, the company said production would rise 12 percent to 14 percent over 2010.

Chesapeake said it expects cash inflows this year of $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion, down from $5.8 billion to $6.2 billion predicted in August.

Net cash change will range between a decrease of $75 million and an increase of $325 million, compared with an August estimated increase of $525 million to $825 million.

For 2010, the company said net cash would increase between $275 million and $950 million, down from the August estimate of a net change of between $600 million and $1.28 billion.