Feb. 18--Chesapeake Energy said Tuesday that it's in talks with several major oil companies about a joint venture in the Barnett Shale, where the Oklahoma City-based independent is one of the largest producers.

Chesapeake has done similar deals, where the company gives up a share of its holdings in exchange for its partner shouldering a large share of future capital spending, in its other big U.S. shale gas fields. The biggest is a $3.4 billion agreement with StatoilHydro in Appalachia's Marcellus Shale; it also has agreements with BP in the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas and with Plains Exploration and Production in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana.

Chesapeake disclosed the talks as part of its latest earnings announcement, which it issued after the close of trading Tuesday on U.S. stock markets. The firm said it lost $866 million in the fourth quarter after taking a $1.7 billion after-tax write-down, or impairment, on the value of its reserves and other assets.

Not counting the write-down, which does not involve cash, Chesapeake said it earned $427 million in the quarter, or 73 cents a share, a penny short of Wall Street's consensus estimate. The company's shares fell $1.48, or 8 percent, to $17.12 Tuesday as petroleum prices continued to weaken, and were down an additional 4.8 percent to $16.30 in after-hours trading.

Chesapeake said its fourth-quarter daily production averaged 2.3 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent, up 100 million cubic feet from the same period a year earlier. It said it finished the year with nearly 12.1 trillion cubic feet of reserves, up 11 percent from a year ago.

In the Barnett Shale, Chesapeake said it averaged 570 million cubic feet a day in the fourth quarter, up 55 percent from a year earlier, and is currently producing 610 million cubic feet a day.

JIM FUQUAY, 817-390-7552

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