Chesapeake quarterly profit tops Street estimate

Chesapeake Energy Corp reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as it produced more crude oil than Wall Street targeted.

Shares of Chesapeake rose 4 percent to $24.26 in premarket trading.

Chesapeake, the second largest U.S. producer of natural gas, said oil production in the quarter rose 44 percent to 116,000 barrels per day (bpd). It raised its crude output forecast for the full year.

Analysts at Bernstein Research had estimated Chesapeake's oil production at 105,000 bpd in the quarter.

Second-quarter profit at the Oklahoma City-based company fell to $457 million, or 66 cents per share, from $929 million, or $1.29 per share, a year earlier.

But adjusting for one-time items, Chesapeake had a profit of 51 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected 41 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

This is the first quarter that Chesapeake has reported earnings under Chief Executive Doug Lawler, who was named to replace former CEO Aubrey McClendon in May.

(Reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)