Houston’s Apache Corp. said Tuesday it will dramatically cut back on its natural gas production in the Permian Basin for an extended period of time because of steep pricing discounts caused by pipeline shortages in the region. There’s so much associated gas produced along with crude oil that many companies are having to pay to have the excess gas shipped away. Either that or they’re simply flaring more of the gas and burning it into the atmosphere, contributing to pollution and climate change. Much of Apache’s Alpine High acreage in the southern Permian is primarily gas producing, so Apache is simply making the decision to scale back its output for now – reducing its production by 250 million cubic feet per day. The change could last for several months. “This is the proper approach from both an environmental and economic perspective relative to other industry practices such as flaring […]