US Energy Agency: PA Driving Northeast Gas Production

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

August 30, 2011 | 4:42 PM

This chart from the United States Energy Information Agency illustrates how Marcellus Shale drilling is driving the boat, when it comes to natural gas production in the northeast region. Pennsylvania, in particular, has seen a rapid boom, and now leads the way.

EIA.gov

Pennsylvania is driving northeast gas productiongov

From the EIA website:

According to Bentek Energy, LLC estimates, natural gas production in West Virginia and Pennsylvania now averages almost 4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), more than five times as much as the average from 2004 through 2008. It accounts for over 85% of total Northeastern natural gas production.
The chart above highlights these trends:

Production in Northeastern Pennsylvania recently passed 2 Bcf/d, up from just 0.4 Bcf/d at the start of 2010.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, production is over 0.8 Bcf/d, more than three times the level at the beginning of 2010.

In West Virginia, production has grown over 40% since January 2010 and recently surpassed 1 Bcf/d.

Production in the rest of the Northeast has been roughly unchanged since 2007.

Update: Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, weighs in on the report with this emailed comment: “This data – which comes on the heels of new PA DEP data showing a 60 percent increase in Marcellus Shale production over the past year – is further confirmation that our region will continue to play a significant and growing role in meeting our nation’s increasing energy demands.”