Is the Utica Shale For Real, or Just Set to Be a Real Disappointment?

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From The Motley Fool (emphasis ours):
Apparently, despite the value of releasing information, operators in Ohio don't want to give up the competitive edge you gain when no one knows what you're doing or how much you're producing. Plenty are skeptical and suspect that energy companies are merely buying time and hoping to hit a big well to justify Utica sunk costs, but we really have no way of knowing if this is really the case.
Regardless of why companies really behave this way, investors must adapt or ignore this resource all together, the latter becoming increasingly more difficult as companies continue to pump resources into the shale.
Winners, maybe
The major concern for investors is that the Utica shale is a complete dud. Despite early comparisons to the Eagle Ford shale in Texas, the Utica is just not producing the way many thought it would. For example, after one year of shale drilling in the Eagle Ford, oil production increased 10 times over, to 120,000 barrels per day in 2011. Right now, production there is right around 300,000 bpd. Ohio pumped 13,000 bpd last year, and every year before that, going back about 10 years. More recent numbers are unavailable, naturally.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a few companies operating in the Utica, hoping things pan out.
Read the rest of the article here.

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