ConocoPhillips, the largest operator in the San Juan Basin, is temporarily suspending its natural gas drilling in the Four Corners region because of low gas prices, a spokesman said Thursday.

No wells are being shut in and current output of 1.04 Bcf/d won’t be affected, Jim Lowry told NGI. Three rigs had been in operation in the 1.3 million-acre leasehold, which extends through the Four Corners of northwestern New Mexico and slightly into Colorado. There are 10,000 producing gas wells.

“We announced Tuesday that were initiating a temporary suspension of development wells, effective immediately…primarily due to low prices for natural gas,” he said. “We will continue to have a familiar presence in San Juan, and this is not a layoff program.”

Close to 600 employees manage the San Juan operations from Farmington, NM, where the company has two large complexes. “We expect to place roughly 20 people in other positions in the San Juan, another another 20 or so in other Lower 48 operations,” Lowry said.

“We will continue to be the largest producer in the basin, and whenever we can — we don’t know the date yet, whenever prices become economic — we will start up again.”

The operator has no plans to lay down rigs in any other onshore gas area, said Lowry.

With ConocoPhillips temporarily halting its gas development, there would be only two gas rigs in operation in the basin, one by Encana Corp. and another by ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. Encana is exploring the potential of producing oil from the basin’s Mancos Shale, and it is preparing to add a second rig.

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