Privately-held Ascent Resources Utica Holdings LLC, Ohio’s largest natural gas producer, is joining its publicly-traded peers in keeping production and activity flat this year as the commodity outlook has softened.

Ascent, also one of the nation’s largest private natural gas producers, is guiding for 2-2.1 Bcfe/d of production in 2023, in line with the 2.1 Bcfe/d it produced last year. Like its peers grappling with inflationary pressures, the company has budgeted more to reach the same level of output. Ascent expects capital expenditures to come in between $920-955 million, up from the $710-770 million it budgeted at this time last year. 

The company also plans to spud 70-75 wells with up to four rigs across its 350,000 net acres in Southern Ohio. The company drilled 75...