Gulfport reaps rewards from Utica shale

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Gulfport Energy Corp., a company working in the Utica shale play in Ohio, said oil and natural gas production and sales increased 10 percent in 2012.

Gulfport reported a net income of $15.9 million for the fourth quarter of last year. Full year oil and natural gas production and sales increased 10 percent year-on-year to 2.57 million barrels of oil equivalent.

"Gulfport's third-party engineers estimated Gulfport's year-end 2012 probable reserves to be 12.84 million barrels of oil and 80.62 billion cubic feet of natural gas, or 26.27 million boe," a company statement read.

Gulfport recently spent more than $500 million to acquire new acreage in the Utica shale play in eastern Ohio. More than 21,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day are expected to come from the shale play given new acreage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the reserve contains 38 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas and 940 million barrels of unconventional oil resources.

The company said it holds about 128,000 net acres in the Utica shale play. It said it plans to accelerate its drilling program in the region for 2013.