EnCana To Cut Natural Gas Production

The story that producers will cut natural gas production was just reported on CNBC.

Here is another corroborating story: EnCana to cut natural gas production.

EnCana, Canada's biggest natural-gas producer, will scale back investment and cut output to reduce North American supplies by as much as 600 million cubic feet a day in a bid to boost prices for the heating and power-plant fuel.

The company will immediately halt 250 million cubic feet a day from wells, Chief Executive Officer Randy Eresman said in a statement today. Spending for 2012 will drop about 37 percent to $2.9 billion, reducing output by another 250 million cubic feet a day from last year. The remaining cut is in the form of gas used as royalties, the Calgary-based company said.

Encana’s reductions come on the heels of similar moves by North American competitors. Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) said on Jan. 23 it would idle drilling rigs and reduce spending in gas fields by 70 percent. EQT Corp.  announced three days earlier that it will suspend drilling in its Huron Field in Kentucky.