Chesapeake "Optimistic" About The Utica

This is about the Utica, not the Bakken, but somehow a couple of us got into a discussion about the merits of Chesapeake and the Utica vs Chesapeake and the Bakken.

Rigzone has an update with regard to Chesapeake and the company's "thoughts" about the Utica.

Some data points:

• Recoverable oil in the Bakken, USGS: 3 - 4 billion bbls; CLR/CEO says as much as 24 billion
• Recoverable oil in the Utica: 1.3 to 5.5 billion
• Chesapeake: number of rigs in North Dakota -- 1 active one today, I believe (if I'm wrong, someone will tell me)
• Chesapeake plans to have 20 rigs in Ohio by the end of the year (2012)
• Currently, Chesapeake has five Utica shale wells (operated by subsidiary Chesapeake Appalachia): these five produced 45,513 bbls of oil and 2.5 million cubic feet of gas in 2011 (an "average" Bakken well should be able to produce 50,000 bbls in first six months; just a rule of thumb for me; others will have their own "rule of thumb")

I don't have a dog in this fight one way or the other. I just wish all good luck whatever their endeavors in the oil patch.