From a press release January 23rd: "Chesapeake said it will reduce operated dry-gas-drilling activity to approximately 24 rigs by the second quarter of this year, down by nearly half from 47 dry-gas rigs it currently has in use."

It's a simple suppy-demand issue, with this decision precipitated by natural gas prices which have been steadily falling.

OK you macroeconomists out there. What's next? Job cutbacks, a slow in campus construction, the beginning of the end? Or simply a prudent decision that will ultimately strengthen the company?

They aren't cutting anything. They make these announcements everytime that natural gas goes down in price to try to scare the market into raising prices.

They are leveraged with VPPs so they can't cut a whole lot. They are also focusing more of their drilling to oil anyway, so this is just them blowing smoke.