EIA: Appalachian basin shale gas production sets records in first-half 2021

Dry natural gas production from shale formations in the Appalachian basin that spans Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio has been growing since 2008, and monthly production has recently set new record highs. According to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), production in the region reached 32.5 bcfd in December 2020, and averaged 31.9 bcfd during first-half 2021, which is the highest average for a 6-month period since production began in 2008.

The basin contains two shale formations, Marcellus and Utica, which accounted for 34% of all US dry natural gas production in first-half 2021. On its own, the Appalachian basin would have been the third-largest natural gas producer in the world in first-half 2021, behind Russia and the rest of the US.

Record-high dry natural gas production in first-half 2021 was made possible by growth in pipeline takeaway capacity that allows natural gas produced in the basin to reach other demand markets, especially in the Midwest.

From 2008 to 2020, total pipeline takeaway capacity from the Northeast increased to 24.5 bcfd from 4.5 bcfd, alleviating some congestion and supporting higher wholesale natural gas prices in the region. Most of the increase in takeaway capacity happened between 2014 and 2020, when pipeline capacity increased by 16.5 bcfd, much of which was directed to the Midwest.

Pipeline takeaway capacity from Appalachia to Canada and to the Southeast has also increased. Recent expansions of pipeline capacity in the Southeast are supporting growth in exports of US LNG.

Although natural gas pipeline capacity out of the Northeast has grown every year since 2014, the rate of increase has slowed and recently has not kept pace with growth in regional production, according to EIA. The Mountain Valley pipeline is the largest natural gas pipeline currently being constructed in the region and is targeted to enter service in 2022. The pipeline will move natural gas from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, extending the Equitrans transmission system to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.’s Zone 5 compressor station 165 near Gretna, Va. It is designed to move 2 bcfd of natural gas and is intended to further alleviate pipeline congestion. Pipelines tend to be most full in the region during the late summer when consumption of natural gas within the region is typically at its lowest, EIA said.