2013: The Year of the Utica Shale?

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From The Motley Fool:
The Bakken and the Eagle Ford are getting a bulk of the attention from energy investors these days. And rightfully so, as both rank at the top of the premier liquids growth plays in the country. That being said, 2013 could be the year that the Utica Shale breaks out on to the energy scene. Here are two big reasons 2013 could be the Utica's year.
Same story, different playTell me if you've heard this story line before: Production coming out of Location X is being held back by a shortage of pipeline and processing capacity. I'm pretty sure I've personally spilled a lot of digital ink on the problems at the Bakken and the Canadian oil sands, both of which are turning to rail to relieve some of the pain. This is the biggest issue for these emerging resource basins. 
The good news, though, for the Utica is that $7 billion in planned infrastructure investments are in the pipeline and will be coming online soon. The two companies to keep your eye on here are Dominion (NYSE: D  ) and MarkWest (NYSE: MWE  ) , with Dominion's Natrium facility and MarkWest's Harrison County development adding much-needed processing capacity. Not only that, but both companies have entered into joint ventures that provide each with an infusion of capital to invest in future growth projects. Taken together, over the next few years these two will be building out a tremendous amount of processing and takeaway capacity, which producers desperately need. 
Read the whole article here. 

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