Chesapeake Energy Corp. will exit the Eagle Ford Shale in a shift away from oil in favor of its natural gas assets in Louisiana and Pennsylvania as it looks to simplify its operations, management said Wednesday. 

The company plans to drop from five to six rigs in the Eagle Ford by the end of August and put the 650,000 net acres it has spread across South and East Texas up for sale. It would shift two rigs to the Haynesville Shale, where it’s already operating five, and boost capital spending by 15% to a range of $1.75-1.95 billion to pay for an increase in activity in Louisiana and inflationary pressures. 

“The Eagle Ford has become noncore to our future capital allocation strategy and we believe that we will be a better company if we focus all of our resources – both...