U.S. energy companies are taking their foot off the natural-gas pedal, slowing down their production growth after years of furious pumping.

In the past eight years, a combination of improvements in drilling techniques and high energy prices stoked natural-gas production to all-time highs. The boom quickly sent natural-gas prices to historic lows, but output kept rising because high oil prices made it profitable for producers to keep tapping fields that yielded both oil and gas.

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