SilverBow Resources Inc. management said the Eagle Ford Shale operator is pulling back natural gas activity and investments by almost 15% in response to weak prices, but plans to ramp up activity around 2025 for Gulf Coast demand. 

“No doubt that 2023 and now 2024 have seen a challenging natural gas market,” said CEO Sean Woolverton during a call to discuss earnings results. “While our longer-term outlook for gas is very constructive, we are reducing gas-directed capital investments this year by nearly 15% to maximize free cash flow and move toward our leverage target of below one turn.”

The Houston-based independent plans to reduce natural gas production by 13% to 280-300 MMcf/d versus preliminary guidance released in December. SilverBow has set 2024 capital...