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(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms produced a record amount of natural gas during the third quarter as producers scrambled to keep up with soaring domestic and export demand for the fuel. Power-hungry data centers and a boom in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are driving up U.S. gas use, pushing producers to pull more gas out of the ground. Both supply and demand are set to hit record highs in 2025 and 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The EIA projected dry gas production will climb from 103.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2024 to 107.1 bcfd in 2025 and 107.4 bcfd in 2026. That compares with a record 103.6 bcfd in 2023. The agency also forecasts gas consumption, including exports, will rise from a record 111.5 bcfd in 2024 to 115.7 bcfd in 2025 and 117.7 bcfd in 2026. In addition to U.S. production, Canada also sends around 8.0 bcfd of gas to the U.S. via pipelines. The 10 biggest mostly gas-focused energy firms, including Expand Energy and EQT, produce almost a quarter of the nation’s gas, primarily from gas-producing shale formations like the Marcellus and Utica in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and the Haynesville in Louisiana and Texas.
Many energy firms also produce gas from oil wells, known as associated gas, in shale formations like the Permian in West Texas and New Mexico and the Bakken in North Dakota.
One billion cubic feet of gas can supply around 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
BIGGEST GAS PRODUCERS
EQT, the nation’s second biggest gas producer, pulled 6.89 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent per day (bcfed) out of the ground during the third quarter, while spending about $618 million, or around 10% below the midpoint of the company’s guidance due to continued efficiency gains and midstream cost optimization.
For the year, EQT said it expects to spend about $2.3-$2.4 billion in 2025 and produce around 6.37-6.51 bcfed, which would top the 6.10 bcfed the company pulled out of the ground on average in 2024.
Expand Energy, the nation’s biggest gas producer, pulled 7.33 bcfed out of the ground in the third quarter. For the year, Expand said it reduced the midpoint of its 2025 capital expenditures guidance by $75 million to $2.85 billion and increased the midpoint of its annual production guidance by 50 million cubic feet of gas equivalent per day (mmcfed) to 7.15 bcfed. Should market conditions warrant, Expand said, it could grow production to around 7.5 bcfed in 2026. “We are clearly spending less for more production, which is the ultimate definition of efficiency,” Expand CEO Nick Dell’Osso told analysts.
Coterra Energy, which produces oil and gas in the Permian, Appalachia and in Oklahoma’s Anadarko region, said it boosted its 2025 gas supply guidance to 2.945 bcfd, up from 2.775 bcfd in February with drilling costs in the Marcellus region in Pennsylvania dropping about 24% year-over-year.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Richard Chang
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