By Anna Driver
HOUSTON (Reuters) - SandRidge Energy Inc
The cuts, to be implemented through early April, may amount to what is arguably the most significant pullback in well drilling by a publicly traded shale oil company since crude prices started a 50 percent slide in June.
The document shows SandRidge plans to cut the number of rigs drilling in the Mississippi Lime formation in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas in March and early April to eight, down from 28.
The document makes no mention of rigs in West Texas, where the company also has acreage. It laid off 25 workers in West Texas in January, state data shows.
A spokesman for SandRidge declined to comment but said the company would provide an update for 2015 on a quarterly results call on February 27.
Many companies have reduced spending to conserve cash by 25-40 percent. [ID:nL1N0V82BV]
SandRidge has been hit particularly hard in the oil rout because it has a hefty debt load and it drills in the Mississippi Lime.
Mississippi Lime wells typically do not produce as much oil as other shale formations and the rock also produces a lot of water that is costly to haul away.
In early January, SandRidge Chief Executive James Bennett said the company was already reducing its rig count and capital spending, citing market conditions.
"Given the market backdrop, we are ... already reducing our rig count and capex levels," he said at the time.
Two of SandRidge's biggest investors include Canada's Prem Watsa and billionaire Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors.
Shares of SandRidge have fallen nearly 70 percent since reaching the year's peak price of $7.34 per share.
(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston; additional reporting by Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Terry Wade and David Gregorio)
