Houston-based independent Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. on Thursday said the drop in natural gas prices in the Rocky Mountains prompted it and its partners to shut-in about 6 MMcf/d of gas from several newly completed wells. Cabot earlier this month also temporarily shut in 5.5 MMcf/d in West Virginia because of infrastructure work.

Cabot’s Rockies operations cover several basins, including Big Horn, Wind River, Green River, Paradox and the Anadarko. A ramp up is expected by next Wednesday (Nov. 1) “to capture higher pricing,” Cabot said.

Cabot’s announcement follows production shut ins by Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Questar Corp. subsidiary Questar Exploration & Production Co. Chesapeake temporarily shut-in 100 MMcf/d (net) of its southwestern production on Oct. 1 (see Daily GPI, Sept. 28), which represented about 6% of its total net production. Questar Exploration & Production Co. shut in 32 MMcf/d of its net Rockies production also effective Oct. 1 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 4). On a net basis, Questar’s shut-in volume equaled about 1 Bcfe (2.3 Bcfe gross) for the month of October.

Earlier this month Cabot temporarily shut in gas in its West Virginia operations because of pipeline repairs and compression installation by a third-party transporting pipeline. Nearly all of the West Virginia production has been restored, it said.

“In the East, the large interstate pipelines have taken the opportunity of significant storage and line pack to perform maintenance,” said Cabot CEO Dan Dinges. “We have been able to limit our exposure to these efforts by redirecting our gas throughout our pipeline system.”

©Copyright 2006Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.