Fayetteville

Southwestern Energy Co. is taking a cautious approach as the year winds down, indicating Friday that it’s likely to spend less in 2020 as natural gas prices continue to flag.

Appalachian pure-play Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) said Wednesday that the company would reduce its rig count from six to two in the coming weeks as part of plans announced earlier this year to cut spending and better control costs.

Northern Oil and Gas Inc. has expanded its holdings in the Williston Basin after acquiring properties from Ven Bakken LLC, a subsidiary of Flywheel Bakken LLC, for $165 million.

Southwestern Energy Co. marked the end of an era on Tuesday when it announced it has completed the $1.865 billion sale of its Fayetteville Shale assets in Arkansas to privately held Flywheel Energy LLC.

Southwestern Energy Co. is going all-in on the Appalachian Basin, announcing on Tuesday that it would exit the play it gave rise to with the $1.9 billion sale of the Fayetteville Shale assets and move some of the proceeds into the liquids-rich Northeast, which has consistently outperformed declining production in Arkansas.

Southwestern Energy Co. has started the process of exiting the Arkansas play it helped build, but how long it may take is unclear, as management looks to once again push the Fayetteville Shale’s performance to maximize its sale value.

Southwestern Energy Co. said Thursday it is actively pursuing strategic alternatives for legacy Fayetteville Shale assets in Arkansas in an ongoing push to stabilize finances and optimize its operations in the Appalachian Basin.

Energy conglomerate BHP Billiton Ltd., no longer keen on the plethora of prospects it holds in the Lower 48 states, is preparing data rooms to give potential buyers a better view of its long-held projects in the Permian Basin and three big shale plays, the Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Fayetteville.

After a slow 2016, Southwestern Energy Co. hit the gas pedal during the 2017 first quarter when it tested or made progress on a series of new wells from northern Pennsylvania to northern West Virginia and confirmed the economic viability of a new interval in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas.