Oil-and-gas producer White Star Petroleum LLC wants bankruptcy court permission to sell its assets for $115 million to a partnership led by Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s co-founder, while residents of Oklahoma look to continue suing the company over damages caused by earthquakes they say were triggered by its fracking operations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oklahoma City at which Judge Janice Loyd will consider whether to approve the sale to BCE-Mach LLC, a partnership formed last year between private-equity firm Bayou City Energy Management LLC and Mach Resources LLC. Mach, formed in 2017, is led by Tom Ward, who co-founded Chesapeake Energy with the late Aubrey McClendon in 1989. Ward left Chesapeake in 2006. White Star itself was founded by McClendon. In May it filed for chapter 11, days after unpaid vendors tried to push the energy company into an involuntary bankruptcy. The Oklahoma City-based oil and gas producer entered bankruptcy planning to sell its assets. It said that it had been stressed financially in recent years, partly due to low production volumes and higher-than-expected operating costs. The bankruptcy filing came after lenders reduced access to cash amid failures to make required payments. The company’s debts included a $274 million secured revolving credit line, a $58 million secured term loan from EnLink Oklahoma Gas Processing LP, and $10 million in unsecured bonds.
