Production increased by 5.3 Bcf/d compared with 2024, according to the EIA’s latest Natural Gas Monthly. Three regions — Appalachia, Permian and Haynesville — accounted for 67 per cent of total U.S. marketed gas production and 81 per cent of the growth last year.

Higher natural gas prices helped support drilling activity. The Henry Hub benchmark price rose about 60 per cent in 2025 to US$3.52 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), improving the economics of production across multiple basins.

The Appalachian Basin in the northeastern United States remained the country’s largest natural gas producing region, accounting for 36.6 Bcf/d, or roughly 31 per cent of total U.S. marketed production.

Production growth there has slowed in recent years because of limited pipeline capacity to move gas to markets. However, additional capacity began coming online in 2024 when the Mountain Valley Pipeline was authorized to start operating. Combined with higher gas prices, that helped push Appalachian production up by 1.1 Bcf/d in 2025, compared with only modest growth in 2024.

The Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico continued to play a major role in U.S. gas growth. Production in the region rose 11 per cent, or 2.7 Bcf/d, reaching an average of 27.7 Bcf/d in 2025.

Much of the natural gas produced in the Permian is associated gas, meaning it is generated as a by-product of oil production. Even though benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude prices declined from US$77 per barrel in 2024 to about US$65 in 2025, prices remained high enough to support oil-directed drilling.

Industry surveys suggest the basin remains economically viable at those levels, with breakeven prices estimated around US$61 per barrel in the Midland Basin and US$62 in the Delaware Basin.

Another factor contributing to higher gas production in the Permian is the region’s rising gas-to-oil ratio, meaning wells are producing more natural gas relative to oil over time.

The Haynesville shale, which spans Louisiana and Texas, also contributed to production growth. Output there averaged 14.9 Bcf/d in 2025, about four per cent higher than in 2024.

Haynesville wells are typically much deeper — between 10,500 and 13,500 feet — than wells in the Appalachian Basin, which generally range from 4,000 to 8,500 feet. The greater depth increases drilling costs, but the basin’s location provides an important advantage.

Haynesville sits close to liquefied natural gas export terminals and large industrial natural gas consumers along the U.S. Gulf Coast, making it an attractive supply source for both domestic and export markets.

The EIA expects U.S. natural gas production to continue growing in the coming years as additional infrastructure and export demand support drilling activity. Expansion of LNG export capacity along the Gulf Coast is expected to play a key role in shaping future natural gas markets.

The United States has been the world’s largest producer of natural gas for more than a decade, largely because of the expansion of shale gas production since the mid-2000s.

The post U.S. natural gas production hits record in 2025, EIA says appeared first on Thoughtful Journalism About Energy's Future.

The Appalachian, Permian Basins and the Haynesville Shale play accounted for less than 15 per cent of total U.S. natural gas production as recently as in 2007, but today they account for nearly 50 per cent of total production.

US natural gas production on the rise for over a decade

By Mike Kopalek and Kiefer Mueller

This article was published by the US Energy Information Administration on September 5, 2018.

Gross natural gas production in the United States has generally been increasing for more than a decade and in recent months has been more than 10 per cent higher compared with the same months in 2017.

This growth has been driven by production in the Appalachian Basin in the Northeast, the Permian Basin in western Texas and New Mexico, and the Haynesville Shale in Texas and Louisiana.

These three regions collectively accounted for less than 15 per cent of total U.S. natural gas production as recently as in 2007, but now they account for nearly 50 per cent of total production.

Production in these regions has increased in part because of new drilling and completion techniques, including longer well laterals that have increased well productivity.

By contrast, the Gulf of Mexico’s share of total production, which was 12 per cent in 2007, has fallen to just 3 per cent in recent months, and the share of production in the rest of the United States has declined from 60 per cent to 28 per cent.

Growth in natural gas production in the Northeast has come mainly from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the Appalachian basin, which collectively accounted for about 29 per cent of total production in July 2018.

Recent infrastructure buildout in the region has allowed natural gas to move out of the region and has reduced the prevailing discount to the national benchmark price at Henry Hub and to regional prices.

Natural gas production in the Permian Basin has also grown in recent years, largely in the form of associated gas accompanying the region’s rising crude oil production.

Similar to the Appalachian Basin, natural gas in the Permian trades at lower prices relative to Henry Hub because of regional infrastructure constraints.

A number of new natural gas pipelines are planned or under construction that will help move natural gas out of the region, and several of them will expand liquefied natural gas export capability.

EIA projects that July 2018 production in the Permian Basin will account for about 11 per cent of total U.S. gross production.

Production in the Haynesville region has also increased. After decreasing from its peak in 2012, increasing production in the Haynesville region since 2017 has been driven by improving initial production rates and increasing rig counts.

Higher rig counts are likely a result of recovering crude oil prices, which have been generally increasing since early 2016. Together, the Haynesville and the Permian regions accounted for nearly 20 per cent of total U.S. natural gas production in 2017.

In contrast to the Appalachian, Permian, and Haynesville regions, the Gulf of Mexico has accounted for an increasingly smaller portion of national production, which is a significant change from a decade ago.

Older wells in the Gulf tend to be more natural gas-rich, and newer wells tend to be more oil-rich. These factors contributed to the overall decline in that region’s natural gas production.

In addition, the technology and expertise required to produce oil and natural gas from the seabed is more expensive and specialized. Drilling platforms sometimes cost a billion dollars or more and take several years to construct.

Finally, offshore projects generally carry higher risk than onshore projects.

The post Three regions drive U.S. natural gas production growth appeared first on Thoughtful Journalism About Energy's Future.