Former Chesapeake CEO McClendon keeps use of company jet

Chesapeake Energy Corp's former Chief Executive Officer, Aubrey McClendon, will use the company's aircraft for free through 2016 after departing in the wake of a governance crisis and a liquidity crunch caused by heavy spending on oil and gas properties.

According to the company's proxy statement filed with regulators on Friday, Chesapeake also altered the terms of McClendon's non-competition clause in his employment agreement to allow him to buy land near where the company operates.

McClendon, who made $16.9 million in cash and stock from Chesapeake in 2012, left the company on April 1. Chesapeake said it will transfer a 28.125 percent interest in a Citation X aircraft to an entity controlled by McClendon until the end of 2016. During this period it will pay all costs, fees and expenses associated with his stake in the aircraft.

McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, was one of the first oil and gas executives to recognize the vast potential of the country's shale basins. But he stepped down as chief executive after a tumultuous year in which a series of Reuters investigations triggered civil and criminal investigations of the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer.

The company said the former executive can acquire oil and gas interests near Chesapeake operations. But Chesapeake will have the right to buy McClendon out for the price he paid for the properties.

McClendon has created at least two new Oklahoma companies in the last few months - McClendon Energy Operating LLC and Arcadia Capital LLC - according to documents filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State. The documents did not provide any details about the nature of the companies.