Natural gas industry titan Aubrey McClendon, a visionary who once quipped that Utica Shale was “the biggest thing to hit Ohio since the plow,” was killed in a car crash Wednesday morning in Oklahoma City.
The crash occurred one day after McClendon was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiring to rig bids to buy gas and oil leases.
Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama said McClendon, 56, the co-founder of Chesapeake Energy also a part-owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, was the only occupant in the vehicle when it slammed into a concrete bridge embankment shortly after 9 a.m.
“He pretty much drove straight into the wall,” Balderrama said. “The information out there at the scene is that he went left of center, went through a grassy area right before colliding into the embankment. There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway and that didn’t occur.”
Balderrama said McClendon was not wearing a seat belt and that he was driving faster than the 50 mph speed limit.
The Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday that McClendon was suspected of orchestrating a scheme between two large energy companies, which are not named in the indictment, from December 2007 to March 2012. The companies would decide ahead of time who would win bids, with the winner then allocating an interest in the leases to the other company, according to the statement.
In a news release Tuesday after his indictment, McClendon denied violating antitrust laws.
McClendon led the way for development of Ohio’s Utica Shale. Although drilling has tailed off in recent months because of continuing low commodity prices for natural gas and oil, his initial interest is widely seen as having sparked the state’s drilling boom.
In 2010, his Chesapeake Energy Corp., the No. 2 natural gas company in the United States, swept into eastern Ohio and quietly leased more than 1.5 million acres in 14 Ohio counties. It spent $2 billion on leases for a little-known rock. Carroll County was the center of Chesapeake’s leases.
He got the drilling started in 2011 and Chesapeake remains Ohio’s No. driller with 813 horizontal wells in various stages of development. Each well costs in excess of $7 million. It is the No. 1 producer of natural gas and oil in Ohio.
McClendon’s involvement also gave the Utica Shale credibility at a time when there many doubters.
”It goes without saying that there would not be a Utica Shale except for Aubrey McClendon,” said Robert Chase, a retired professor and chair of the department of petroleum engineering and geology at Ohio’s Marietta College and an expert on the Utica Shale.
“His people came into Ohio under the cover of darkness and researched everything they could on the Utica Shale, and he realized its potential,” he said. “He started everything.”
Chase added, “The shale boom that we’re seeing in Ohio is attributed all to his vision.”
McClendon was quick to implement the latest technologies, believed strongly in research and creativity and hired the best people, Chase said.
“He was colorful. He was a character. He was pretty brash.…It’s very sad and very strange,” Chase said of McClendon.
McClendon “was a giant in many ways,” said Jim Willis, editor-publisher of the Marcellus Drilling News.
He is usually listed by experts as being among a handful of key figures in the development of shale energy in the United States, Willis said.
He turned out to be correct about the potential of the Utica Shale. “It was, is and will continue to be a major economic force,” Willis said.
“He was very prescient,” he said of McClendon and his Utica dreams.
Chesapeake under McClendon’s rule also became the No. 1 producer in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.
“To me this is just shocking,” Willis said. “I’m still reeling.”
In a news release, the Ohio Oil & Gas Association said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the McClendon family, especially his wife and children, during this difficult time.”
McClendon invested in Ohio’s Utica Shale twice, once after he was forced out at Chesapeake Energy in 2013.
After leaving Chesapeake Energy, McClendon, a part-owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, founded American Energy Partners LP, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. The firm had 450 employees. He raised $3.5 billion, acquired Ohio leases and had plans for 2,600 wells.
That company spun off a subsidiary, Ascent Resources LLC, an active Ohio driller, into an independent, stand-alone company.
Ascent Resources has 168 Utica Shale permits. That is fourth in Ohio behind Chesapeake Energy (813), Gulfport Energy (271) and Antero Resources (185).
Department of Justice spokesman Mark Abueg declined to comment on the impact McClendon’s death would have on the federal conspiracy case.
“The charge that has been filed against me today is wrong and unprecedented,” McClendon said in a news release Tuesday. “Anyone who knows me, my business record and the industry in which I have worked for 35 years, knows that I could not be guilty of violating any antitrust laws. All my life I have worked to create jobs in Oklahoma, grow its economy, and to provide abundant and affordable energy to all Americans. I am proud of my track record in this industry, and I will fight to prove my innocence and to clear my name.”
The Associated Press and Beacon Journal staff writer Bob Downing contributed to this report.