Appalachia Holds Title as World’s Third Largest Natural Gas Producer, Says EIA

Dry natural gas production from shale formations in the Appalachian Basin continues to be hot and is breaking records.

According to a note from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), production in the region reached 32.5 Bcf/d in December and averaged 31.9 Bcf/d during the first half of 2021. Researchers said it was “the highest average for a six-month period since production began in 2008.”

The Marcellus and Utica formations accounted for 34% of all U.S. dry gas production in the first half of this year, according to the EIA research team led by Corrina Ricker and Warren Wilczewski. 

“On its own, the Appalachian Basin would have been the third largest natural gas producer in the world the first half of 2021, behind Russia and the rest of the United States,”...