A Chesapeake Energy Corp. subsidiary has sold 27 Utica Shale wells and 37,000 net acres in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania to Geopetro LLC, a Worthington, OH-based legacy producer. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Geopetro said in an announcement that the package includes 22 producing wells that averaged 24 MMcf/d during the first half of this year. One of the wells produces oil and gas from the Upper Devonian shales and the others produce primarily from the Utica. The company also acquired five drilled and completed wells that are awaiting pipeline connection.

Chesapeake Appalachia LLC sold the assets, which are located in Columbiana County, OH, and Beaver County, PA. The sale closed on Oct. 27.

Chesapeake continues to execute assets sales as it works to reduce its debt. Most recently, the companysoldmost of its upstream and midstream properties in the Devonian Shale of West Virginia and Kentucky to an undisclosed buyer, divesting 882,000 net acres, 5,600 wells and related gathering assets and equipment for what it expects will be nominal proceeds. The company retained its deep drilling rights in the region.

Some of the first shale wells Chesapeake drilled in Ohio were in Columbiana County and Carroll County to the south. While the counties still host strong production, most Utica Shale development has shifted to the southeast part of the state.

Founded in 1988, Geopetro is an exploration and production company that operates about 125 wells and participates in joint ventures with other operators in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The company said the Chesapeake acquisition creates a “tremendous growth opportunity” because it will turn the primary focus of its operations from conventional production in central Ohio to unconventional production in the Utica region. The company said it will now focus on increasing production from the wells it acquired.