Drillers cutting back in Utah's biggest gas field

Drillers cutting back in Utah's biggest gas field


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The frenzied pace of drilling in Utah's biggest gas field, the Uinta Basin, has seen a big decline with falling petroleum prices and tight bank credit.

The number of rigs at work statewide is down to 23, half of the number as last August, according to figures the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining plans to release Wednesday.

Also, the number of gas wells completed in January was 63, down from 84 for the same month last year.

Most of Utah's drilling activity takes place near Vernal in the Uinta Basin, where one player, Colorado-based Gasco Energy, says it called off an expensive experiment to do horizontal drilling, which can dramatically boost production.

Gasco cited declining prices for Rocky Mountain natural gas, which is hard to pipe out of the region.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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