UPDATE 1-Chesapeake gets $460 mln in credit, shares bounce

(Adds details, background, share price)

HOUSTON Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) said on Thursday it has obtained a $460 million line of credit for its natural gas gathering and processing unit, helping to ease investor worries about liquidity, and sending its stock higher.

Shares of Chesapeake, which is heavily leveraged and has been dogged by concerns about its liquidity in the credit crisis, jumped more than 9 percent.

The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, company said the credit facility, which matures in October 2013, may be expanded up to $750 million, subject to additional bank participation.

Chesapeake plans to utilize the funds to partially fund capital expenditures associated with building gas gathering systems in the company's unconventional shale plays like the Haynesville in Louisiana.

Twelve financial institutions participated in the facility that was jointly led by Wells Fargo Bank, NA and RBS Securities Corp, Chesapeake said.

At day one of its analysts meeting on Wednesday, the company's chief executive officer, Aubrey McClendon, assured investors the company has plenty of cash and was working to close about $3 billion in asset deals.

Shares of Chesapeake, which tumbled more than 20 percent on Wednesday, rose $1.52 to $17.86 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock was outperforming a 4.6 percent gain in the American Stock Exchange index of natural gas companies .XNG. (Reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Brian Moss)