Natural gas production in Louisiana last year hit a level not seen since 1980, according to state records. In 2010 the state produced nearly 2.06 Tcf, which is nudging up against the 2.67 Tcf produced 21 years ago.

The state’s figures include wet gas after lease separation and exclude production from the Outer Continental Shelf.

The Haynesville Shale area was credited for the rise in production — although Bill Delmar, assistant director of technology assessment for the state’s Department of Natural Resources, said it could not yet be determined how much of the production was from the Haynesville play proper.

“The data just doesn’t split out that way for us; we’re in the process of trying to do that right now,” he told NGI’s Shale Daily. However, he said, “We could speculate that it was coming from the Haynesville Shale.”

Regardless, production in North Louisiana is up, period, he said.

Louisiana production had been declining until the advent of shale plays, most notably the Haynesville in the Pelican State.

In the most recent lease sale conducted by the Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board, the northern part of the state garnered most of the interest (see Shale Daily, Feb. 14).