Risk-taker and rule-breaker Aubrey McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake Energy Corp., appears to be making a comeback in the U.S. exploration and production (E&P) arena, with one of his start-ups buying leaseholds big and small in the Utica Shale, sources told NGI.

It was no secret that the flamboyant and controversial entrepreneur wasn’t going to retire after he left Chesapeake on April 1. The 54-year-old began publicly setting up shop in mid-April at an office complex a short distance from his former headquarters in Oklahoma City (see NGI, April 22). Oklahoma records indicated at the time that McClendon had registered American Energy Partners LP, Arcadia Capital LLC and McClendon Energy Operating LLC.

The oil and natural gas enthusiast again is pursuing land to develop and may in fact already own a doozy.

American Energy has been cited by several sources as the buyer of some Utica Shale property from EV Energy Partners LP’s (EVEP) earlier this month. The $284 million sale by exploration arm EnerVest Ltd. was with an “undisclosed” and privately owned E&P involving 22,535 net acres.

EVEP officials also said they were working with an unnamed company to develop more than 4,000 net acres in three of Ohio’s most heavily drilled counties: Guernsey, Harrison and Noble. EVEP is second only to Chesapeake in acreage holdings in the Ohio play (see NGI, Oct. 8, 2012). EVEP also partners with Chesapeake and Total SA on some of the leasehold.

EVEP estimated that it received about $12,900/acre on average in the transaction; it’s expected to close by the end of September. The undisclosed producer and EVEP also were said to be in negotiations to form a joint venture to develop land in Ohio’s Tuscarawas and Stark counties.

There was no comment from American Energy about whether it was the buyer in EVEP’s recent sale. However, at the EnerCom Consulting’s oil and gas conference earlier this month in Denver, more than one analyst said many people were hearing that McClendon was the buyer.

Wells Fargo’s David Tameron and Gordon Douthat said reports from “very good sources” indicated that American Energy was “getting aggressive in the basin” and had purchased the EVEP divestment. American Energy also is said to have been the buyer of a recent Utica leasehold divestment by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc, said the analysts. With that package and EVEP’s, “American Energy is accumulating a nice acreage position in the Utica.”

Two other sources also confirmed that they’d heard similar reports about American Energy buying up leaseholds in the northeastern play. “That is what we heard,” one source who wished to remain anonymous told NGI.

The new company also is said to be buying small parcels in the Utica that haven’t been disclosed. One source told NGI that the smaller leaseholds have gone for as much as $16,000/acre.

When Chesapeake first began publicly discussing its Utica holdings two years ago, the former CEO said at an energy summit in Ohio that the Utica could be the “biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow” (see NGI, Sept. 26, 2011). McClendon said then the company had “arrived at two conclusions: One, it’s big. Two, a lot of the acreage on it was owned by EnerVest,” acknowledging EVEP Chairman John Walker who also attended the summit. “We’d always been friends, but I got chummier.”

“Now we’re best friends,” Walker replied.

On American Energy’s website, the company claims that there is an “unprecedented opportunity — for the right company, under the right leadership, at the right time…We’re ready to lead and our time is now.” The website said under McClendon’s leadership, the E&P “has a singular purpose: to capture some of the vast opportunities available today” in the U.S. oil and natural gas industry.

Sounding much like its founder, American Energy’s website states that it “represents a creative new approach for a rapidly changing industry. We’re built to be opportunistic and bold. We are a start-up, but we are ready to make our mark.”

After McClendon moved to his new headquarters in April, he began conducting informal meetings with potential financiers. He also sent a six-page query to several private equity firms seeking money. Portions of the letter were provided to NGI. The letter said McClendon planned to raise $2-3 billion of initial equity for American Energy. It also said McClendon and his management team would keep a big cut of new profits for the E&P, about half of all earnings once the investment-return threshold was met. McClendon also said he wanted to maintain more control of the company.

The “discovery phase” of unconventional gas drilling was over, McClendon wrote. “The next phase of the industry’s development will be equally dynamic and potentially even more rewarding for investors. The time to move is now.” He is said to have captured more than $1 billion in private equity from the query.

Meanwhile, McClendon’s former running buddies at Chesapeake are looking for new jobs. Chesapeake’s long-time COO Steve Dixon, who was named interim CEO until Doug Lawler came aboard in June, was booted from the company earlier this month with three other top executives. Lawler made the announcement in a memo to staff. The changes were effective immediately. An NGIsource shared the contents of Lawler’s memo to employees. Lawler is a former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. executive who was hired in May.

Dixon had been executive vice president (EVP) of operations and geosciences. He joined Chesapeake in 1991, two years after the company was founded, and became COO in 2006. Also out of the company are EVP of production Jeff Fisher, Senior Vice President (SVP) of drilling Steve Miller, and SVP and chief of human and corporate resources Martha Burger.

The executives “are leaving the company to pursue other opportunities,” Lawler wrote in an email to employees. “This restructuring will position Chesapeake to be more competitive and focused, and it will further our strategies of financial discipline and profitable and efficient growth from captured resources.”