A gas glut, and reduced prices, has prompted Chesapeake Energy to trim its drilling plans, the Wall Street Journal reports. Impact on Arkansas not totally clear.

But Talk Business picks up more detail from the Chesapeake news release, which indicates its planned $3.2 billion Fayetteville shale exploration will be cut by 25 percent, or about $800 million. (UPDATE: It appears, however, that this cut doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in exploration. Rather it’s a reduction in Chesapeake expenditures as a result of selling a quarter of the venture to BP.)

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BY THE WAY: I’m going to post this item shortly on our new house blog, Shale Watch, devoted to the Fayetteville shale play. Gerard Matthews, who’s done some reporting already on shale issues, is going to generally oversee the effort. It will be a work in progress. But we welcome contributions from others about life in the shale — production, profit, environment, etc. Write him at gerard@arktimes.com

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