Fueled by increasing natural gas flow from the Haynesville Shale play in Louisiana, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that production for the Lower 48 states rose 1.3% in March, the latest month for which estimates are available, despite fewer wells being drilled.

Louisiana production was up 3.8%, or 0.2 Bcf/d, to 5.59 Bcf/d as strong drilling in the Haynesville Shale continued, according to the EIA-914 survey. This was the single largest percentage hike in production in March.

The boost in the Haynesville output, along with smaller monthly percentage hikes in production from Texas and other states, brought the total production in the Lower 48 states up by 1.3% to 64.67 Bcf. The Lower 48 states accounted for the bulk of total U.S. output of 76.64 Bcf/d in March, which was up 1.3% from 73.71 Bcf/d in February.

Texas was ranked the largest state producer, with an output of 20.71 Bcf/d, up 2% from the prior month. While the “other states” posted a total output of 15.87 Bcf/d, a hike of 1.8% from February, no other individual state came close to Texas.

The EIA-914 survey showed that Alaska production rose by 1.2% to 9.97 Bcf/d; Wyoming output remained stable at 7.09 Bcf/d; New Mexico production remained stable at 3.70 Bcf/d; and Oklahoma’s output was relatively flat at 4.99 Bcf/d.

Natural gas production from the Gulf of Mexico fell 1.2% to 6.72 Bcf/d in March, the EIA reported.

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