Stone Cuts Capex to Bone, Most Funds Go to Gulf, Not Appalachia

摘要

Stone Energy plans to cut its capital spending by more than half to $200 million next year, with most of that money allocated to the US Gulf of Mexico and very little to its operations in the Appalachian Basin in the Northeast. Stone has about 900,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, but operations are being impacted by low wellhead prices. Stone shut in production from the Mary field in Appalachia on Sept. 1, citing 'unacceptable' operating margins caused by low commodity pricing - including negative differentials in the region - along with fees for transportation, processing and gathering.