Chesapeake to increase Utica production

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

By the end of the year, Chesapeake Energy Corp. expects net production of natural gas and natural-gas liquids in Ohio’s Utica Shale to increase to 700 million cubic feet per day, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chesapeake said net production averaged about 189 million cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter, a 309 percent increase from the same time a year ago and a 15 percent improvement from the third quarter.

The company operated an average of nine rigs at 49 wells in the fourth quarter, compared with 11 average rigs at 83 wells during the same period a year ago. Average peak daily production at those 49 wells hit approximately 7.7 million cubic feet per day last quarter.

As of Dec. 31, Chesapeake had drilled a total of 425 wells in the Utica Shale, with 230 of those wells producing, and 195 wells were either not complete or awaiting a pipeline connection at year’s end, the company said.

Progress in the Utica was slowed by operational issues and build-out delays in midstream infrastructure development in the second half of 2013. The company expected those problems to continue through the first quarter of this year, but to a lesser degree.

But Chesapeake said resumed activity at Dominion’s Natrium processing plant would resolve those issues, allowing Chesapeake to reach its net production goal of 700 million cubic feet by year’s end.

Chesapeake reported $474 million in net income for 2013, compared with $250 million in 2012.