From: Wall Street Journal
By RYAN DEZEMBER And BEN LEFEBVRE
HOUSTON—Moves by Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. signal that eastern Ohio’s newest oil-shale field is so rich that it could trigger a Rust Belt oil revival—and perhaps reverse the fortunes of the battered East Coast refining industry.
If the Utica Shale holds as much oil as some producers and analysts think it does, a new source of relatively cheap domestic oil could boost the razor-thin profit margins of local refineries that must now source oil tied to European benchmark Brent, which is trading at a premium to most crudes that come from the interior of the U.S.
