It's Over?

The number of drilling rigs working in the big North Texas natural gas field has fallen by more than half, from a peak of 214 in October to 97 as of Friday. And XTO executives suggest that could fall to as low as 90 in coming months.

That means fewer wells, and nowhere is that more true than at Devon Energy, which announced that it expects exploration and production spending in 2009 to be less than half what it spent in 2008. Devon had resisted cutting back its Barnett Shale activity, but it now says it will drill something over 200 wells this year, or only about a third of the more than 600 it drilled in 2008.

Story.

Any news from the front lines out there?