U.S. Natural Gas Production Sets New Record

According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), US natural gas production registered an increase by 10.0 billion cubic feet per day in 2018, noting an 11% rise in comparison to 2017.

The development reported was the largest annual increase in production on record, establishing a record high for a second year in a row, it said in a press release.

U.S. natural gas production measured as gross withdrawals averaged 101.3 Bcf/d in 2018, the highest volume on record, according to EIA’s Monthly Crude Oil, Lease Condensate, and Natural Gas Production Report.

U.S. natural gas production measured as marketed production and dry natural gas production also reached record highs at 89.6 Bcf/d and 83.4 Bcf/d, respectively.

U.S. natural gas gross withdrawals increased every month during 2018 except in June, ultimately reaching a record monthly high of 107.8 Bcf/d in December 2018. Marketed natural gas production and dry natural gas production also hit monthly record highs of 95.0 Bcf/d and 88.6 Bcf/d, respectively, in December 2018.

Marketed production reflects gross withdrawals less natural gas used for repressuring wells, quantities vented or flared, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed in treating or processing operations. Dry natural gas is consumer-grade natural gas, or marketed production less extraction losses.

As natural gas production increased, the volume of natural gas exports—both through pipelines and as liquefied natural gas (LNG)—increased for the fourth consecutive year, reaching 9.9 Bcf/d.

Total natural gas exports grew 14% in 2018, and LNG exports grew by 53% to 3.0 Bcf/d. Both pipeline and LNG exports reached record monthly highs in December 2018 of 7.7 Bcf/d and 4.0 Bcf/d, respectively. The United States continued to export more natural gas than it imported in 2018, after being a net exporter in 2017 for the first time in nearly 60 years.