U.S. dry natural gas production plummeted during the Arctic freeze that descended upon Texas last week, hitting a low of 69.7 billion Bcf/d, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a research note Thursday.

The low point, reached on Feb. 17, marked a decline of 21% from the average of the prior week, the agency said.

Natural gas production in Texas dropped nearly 45%, falling from 21.3 Bcf/d during the week ended Feb. 13 to a low of 11.8 Bcf/d on Feb. 17, EIA estimated using data from IHS Markit.

Temperatures in Texas during the extraordinary cold snap averaged nearly 30 degrees lower than normal for the time of the year.

“The decline in natural gas production was mostly a result of freeze-offs, which occur when water and other liquids in the raw natural...