The number of permits issued for shale gas wells in Pennsylvania declined 46% in April compared to the same period a year ago, with publicly held drillers accounting for 84% of the new permits issued. Compared to the preceding month, permitting was off 36%, according to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The slowdown in April drilling reflects the pressure on drillers to keep spending down and commodity gas prices that hovered around $2/MMBtu at national and local hubs amid warmer-than-expected winter weather.

Permitting remained largely limited to the core Marcellus Shale fairways in the northeast and southwest parts of the state, with top U.S. producer EQT Corp. pulling the most permits, 15, for new wells in two counties south of Pittsburgh. The state's top five gas producers by volume — EQT, Range Resources Corp., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Southwestern Energy Co. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. — accounted for 72% of permits pulled in April, according to Department of Environmental Protection data May 11.

Despite its financial troubles, Chesapeake pulled 13 permits in the dry gas northeast part of the state in April. The company noted in its first-quarter results filed with the SEC that it intends to spend at least $500 million during the rest of the year, primarily on natural gas operations in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale and Louisiana's Haynesville Shale. The Marcellus accounts for 51% of Chesapeake's companywide gas production.

Private drilling picked up slightly in April, accounting for 16% of new permits pulled, up from 8% in March but well off the normal 30% share of permits usually issued to private drillers. Nearly half of the 13 new permits pulled by private operators went to Alta Resources LLC's operating unit, ARD Operating LLC, in Lycoming County. Alta is drilling primarily on acreage it purchased for $1.2 billion from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in 2017.