Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Doug Lawler says Ohio's Utica shale play continues to produce good results for the company, the most-active driller in the state, the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

“First let me say that I really am encouraged by what I’ve seen in the Utica,” Lawler said in a conference call with stock analysts, the paper reported. “... The Utica is outstanding.”

Lawler predicted the pace of drilling will pick up sharply in Ohio over the next year now that processing plants and other much-needed infrastructure are coming online, the paper said.

Chesapeake reported it has drilled 321 wells in the Utica shale play in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, the Beacon Journal said, with 106 of those wells producing