A package of five conventional and unconventional properties in the northern Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin of Wyoming and Colorado is up for sale by Chesapeake Energy Corp. Gross acreage is estimated at more than 684,000 acres; net acreage totals about 504,000 acres, according to Meager Energy Advisors, the listing agent.

According to Chesapeake, net revenue interest is 80%. The producer said it would give preference to one bid for all five areas but it also would consider separate bids. No estimated price was put on the package.

Chesapeake’s primary drilling target has been the Niobrara formation, but it also is drilling in the promising Codell, Greenhorn/Graneros, J Sands and Dakota Sands. The wells to date have been drilled to a depth of 5,500-9,000 feet. Estimated reserves from the Niobrara and the Greenhorn/Graneros formation were the same: 30 million boe/square mile, or more than 300,000 boe/well.

Chesapeake has been drilling mostly in the Hereford and Silo fields, which in total have produced more than 2.25 million boe and 11.5 million boe respectively, as well as in the prolific Wattenberg Field, which has produced more than 184 million bbl and 2.1 Tcf from the Niobrara and Codell formations.

The DJ Basin, long a natural gas target, of late has become an active horizontal oil play in the Rockies. Since 2010 more than 500 horizontal wells have been drilled there; 20-plus wells reported oil initial production rates of more than 400 b/d in 1Q2011, Chesapeake said.

Chesapeake now has 26 operated producing Niobrara horizontal wells, one producing Codell horizontal well, one producing Greenhorn well and one producing vertical J Sand well. The company also has a stake in 24 nonoperated wells, 15 of which are producing.

In Wyoming’s Goshen and Platte counties Chesapeake is offering about 199,00 net acres for sale, and close to 1,300 have expiring leaseholds this year. In Laramie County, WY, in the Silo/Hereford area, 50,918 net acres are available, with just more than 2,000 net acres expiring this year.

Colorado acreage in the Wattenberg formation is available in Weld and Larimer counties, which are in the northern part of the field. An estimated 78,900 net acres are available for sale, with 6,374 acres due to expire this year. In the eastern Wattenberg area, which is spread across Morgan and Weld counties, about 114,021 net acres are for sale; close to 1,400 net acres have leases set to expire this year.

Another leasehold package with 60,757 net acres is available in the Lowry area in Colorado’s Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties. Close to 1,000 net acres of leasehold expire in 2013.

The bid date for the properties is June 28, with closing scheduled for Aug. 15. For information contact Julie Foster at (303) 721-6354, extension 229; David Bickerstaff, extension 232; or Chris McCarthy, extension 224.