If natural gas prices remain depressed, Chesapeake Energy will further reduce spending on drilling in areas such as North Texas' Barnett Shale, which mostly produces less-valuable "dry" gas, the company said Wednesday January 4, 2012.

Chesapeake is the No. 2 gas producer in the Barnett and has long been among the most active drillers. But it has already reduced drilling activity from years when gas prices were markedly higher.

The Oklahoma City-based company had 11 rigs drilling new wells in the Barnett as of Friday, according to RigData. Ten rigs are in Tarrant County and one is in Johnson County.

Wells in both counties predominantly produce dry gas that contains little crude oil or other petroleum liquids, which command much higher prices.

While Tarrant is the No. 1 gas-producing county in Texas, followed by Johnson County, Chesapeake and other U.S. oil and gas producers have been shifting their focus to other U.S. fields that offer a better chance of producing substantial amounts of oil and natural gas liquids.

In its statement Wednesday, Chesapeake said a further reduction in dry-gas drilling "would likely decrease its projected natural gas production," meaning it might not reach a companywide production-growth increase of 30 percent for the two years ending Dec. 31.

Devon Energy, the No. 1 Barnett producer, had 12 drilling rigs busy as of Friday, more than any other operator. Devon had four rigs each drilling in Denton and Johnson counties, three in Parker County and one in Wise County.

"We are very fortunate to have acreage positions in areas that have natural gas liquids," Devon spokesman Chip Minty said Wednesday. The company doesn't significantly alter its drilling plans based on short-term patterns in energy prices, he said.

Fort Worth-based XTO Energy, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, had eight rigs drilling Friday, all in Tarrant County.

Chesapeake's comments on dry-gas drilling were part of a broader announcement that focused on its efforts to slash its sizable debt.

The company said its long-term debt, net of cash, was $10.3 billion at the end of 2011, a reduction of $2.2 billion from the year before.