Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest gas producer after Exxon Mobil, announced on February 25 that it will sell a 50-percent stake in oil and natural gas-rich land in Oklahoma to Chinese oil company Sinopec for $1.02 billion.

The two companies announced the execution of an agreement "which provides for Sinopec to purchase a 50-percent undivided interest in 850,000 of Chesapeake's net oil and natural gas leasehold acres in the Mississippi Lime play in northern Oklahoma," Chesapeake, headquartered in Oklahoma City, said in a news release.

Chesapeake has sold off billions in assets to pay off debt since it rushed to buy land and other assets and increasingly focused on more lucrative oil and gas liquids.