Chesapeake Reports 1st Quarter Results; Utica Shale Numbers Are on Pace with Projections

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From the Canton Repository:
As of March 31, Chesapeake had drilled 249 wells in the Utica, including 66 producing wells and 86 wells waiting to be connected to pipelines.
The company is the biggest Utica driller in Ohio and has 14 rigs working in the region, but that number could drop as drilling becomes more efficient, acting CEO Steven Dixon said during a conference call.
Chesapeake said its Utica wells produced 60 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent during the first quarter, and the company remains on target to reach 330 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent by year’s end.
“Processing is really the hold up,” but two facilities should be running by mid-year, Dixon said.
Read that whole article here.

While that focuses on some of the positives, an article from MarketWatch says that Chesapeake's reporting on other areas has raised questions with some analysts:
Chesapeake said profits hit 30 cents a share in the first quarter compared with analyst estimates of 25 cents a share. Production was in line with expectations, with oil and natural-gas liquids exceeding estimates. 
The company revised upward this year’s production guidance thanks to strong drilling results in Texas’ Eagle Ford and the Marcellus shale, and trimmed cost estimates. 
So far so good. But here’s the sticky part: Chesapeake also disclosed it is barely halfway through the low end of its $4 billion to $7 billion asset-sale target.
Read the rest of that article here.

And click here to read a transcript of the entire earnings conference call. 

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