Long Story Short - Natural Gas Production Hits 100 Bcf/d, But Is No Match for Record Demand

RBN Energy Blogcast

Lower 48 natural gas production this month hit a once-unthinkable milestone, topping the all-important psychological threshold of 100 Bcf/d for the first time. Volumes have remained at record highs through mid-September, with year-on-year gains expanding to a breathtaking 7-9 Bcf/d above last year at this time (when hurricane-related shut-ins were in effect). The record production levels coincided with a seasonal decline in weather-related demand, as well as the ongoing outage at the Freeport LNG export terminal. Remarkably, however, even with all-time high, ~100 Bcf/d natural gas production and Freeport LNG offline, the Lower 48 gas market balance averaged tighter year-on-year — a testament to just how strong consumption has been lately, and for much of this summer for that matter. In today’s blog, we look at how the supply-demand balance has shaped up this month and where it’s headed near-term.