Much of nation's natural gas now comes from shale

Marie Cusick

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Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

November 25, 2014 | 11:41 AM

Much of the natural gas in the United States now comes from shale gas wells, according to information released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Seven years ago, shale made up just 8 percent of the overall gas production for the United States, but last year it accounted for 40 percent of production– it’s now the largest single source of gas in the country.
The emergence of fracking has also dramatically changed where the gas is coming from. In 2013, 79 percent of shale gas production came from Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
The record-breaking production in the Marcellus Shale made Pennsylvania the second-largest gas producing state last year.
Over the same time period, gas production from nonshale wells declined by 25 percent.

If Pennsylvania’s 2014 production continues at the same pace, the state is track to produce 4 trillion cubic feet this year– or about 16 percent of what the entire United States consumes annually.
This story has been updated to reflect the following correction: an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that shale gas accounts for 79 percent of U.S. production. It is 40 percent.