Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N) will buy Bronco Drilling Co Inc (BRNC.O) for about $315 million as part of its strategy to increase its ownership of the rigs it uses to drill wells and expand into oilfield services, the company said on Friday. Chesapeake Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon has told investors he plans to expand the company's oilfield services business as a way to control costs on that side of the exploration and production business. The Oklahoma City company already has rig and trucking operations and is looking to expand its hydraulic fracturing business as it steps up drilling in oil and gas shale fields in the United States. Crude oil at $100 per barrel has heated up competition for labor, rigs and other oilfield services equipment in many busy basins like the busy Eagle Ford shale in South Texas and the Permian in West Texas.
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