Cabot to Cut Spending, Maintain Pennsylvania Production Despite Better Natural Gas Outlook
Appalachian pure-play Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. plans to keep year/year production flat in 2021 and cut spending, despite what management believes is likely to be a better year for natural gas producers.
In formally releasing its plans for this year, the company reiterated preliminary guidance unveiled in October to move through 2021 in maintenance mode as it looks to return more capital to shareholders.
The plan this year “highlights our commitment to disciplined capital allocation” and free cash flow (FCF) generation, “with a focus on maintaining our production flat year/year despite the expectation for a higher natural gas price environment this year,” said CEO Dan Dinges.
the natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending December 4th indicated that the quantity of natural gas held in underground storage in the US decreased by 91 billion cubic feet to 3,848 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 309 billion cubic feet, or 8.7% higher than the 3,539 billion cubic feet that were in storage on December 4th of last year, and 260 billion cubic feet, or 7.2% above the five-year average of 3,588 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 4th of December in recent years..the 91 billion cubic feet that were drawn out of US natural gas storage this week was higher than the average forecast from an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts who expected a 78 billion cubic foot withdrawal, and was also much higher than the average withdrawal of 61 billion cubic feet of natural gas that are typically pulled out of natural gas storage during the same week over the past 5 years, and the 57 billion cub