Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) has closed its transaction to sell its Fayetteville Shale assets to BHP Billiton Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP).

The transaction included approximately 487,000 net acres of leasehold, current net production of approximately 415 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day and midstream assets consisting of approximately 420 miles of pipeline. As part of the transaction, Chesapeake has agreed to provide technical and business services for up to one year for BHP Billiton's Fayetteville properties for an agreed-upon fee.

"We are pleased to complete the sale of our Fayetteville Shale assets to BHP Billiton," said Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake’s chief executive officer. "I would also like to personally thank all of the Chesapeake employees who throughout the past six years helped build this field into a world-class natural gas asset. This transaction allows Chesapeake to achieve substantial progress in implementing the debt reduction targets of our previously announced 25/25 Plan. We look forward to replacing the Fayetteville production through substantial growth from our other world-class natural gas plays and also from our rapidly growing higher margin liquids-rich plays in the years ahead."