“There’s a scary amount of gas out there.”

Chesapeake CEO Seeks Cash Infusion  

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon is cultivating investors from Seoul to New Delhi eager to own natural gas that’s 85 percent cheaper than Middle East supplies because of a glut in the U.S. 

As head of the second-largest U.S. natural gas supplier, McClendon met executives of Asian power utilities and state-run energy companies on a 14-day trip last month. He said they’re unfazed by Chesapeake’s $10.3 billion debt load, more than twice Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)’s burden, and gas trading near a 10-year low of $2.23 per million British thermal units -- two factors that have helped send its stock down 25 percent in the past year. 

“We are presently owned by a group of investors who don’t think gas prices will ever go above $4,” McClendon, 52, said in an interview in Oklahoma City (13409MF), where Chesapeake is based.

To tide over Chesapeake, McClendon plans to sell more than $17 billion in oil fields and other assets by the end of 2013 to cover a cash-flow gap aggravated by plunging gas prices.

U.S. gas has tumbled 22 percent this year, following a 32 percent plunge in 2011.

Soaring production from shale fields in Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania smashed open by high-pressure jets of water and sand inflated supplies at a time of mild winter weather that suppressed demand for the furnace fuel.

Gas futures traded in New York touched $2.23 per million British thermal units on Jan. 23, the lowest since February 2002.