Southwestern Energy Co. of Houston has stated it will decrease its forecast investment in the Fayetteville Shale by about $100 million.
In December, the company announced it would spend $1.2 billion in the shale during 2012, compared to $1.3 billion in 2011.
According to its year-end financial results, Southwestern will now spend $1.1 billion in the shale. Of that, $925 million goes toward drilling around 470 new wells.
In its next biggest investment, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, Southwestern stated it would spend $526 million, compared to $530 million it declared in December.
As of Dec. 31, Southwestern held leases for 925,842 net acres in the Fayetteville.
Earlier this month, Australian company BHP Billiton reversed its plan to increase drilling in the shale play and said it would reduce its number of rigs there. The company cited "current market conditions," including low natural gas prices, a modest winter that’s cut energy demand, low industrial power generation demand and an abundance of U.S. on-shore natural gas supply.
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