Compared

Domestic natural gas production was a hair more than 2.60 Tcf in April, and production in the first four months of the year reached 10.31 Tcf, a 4.7% increase from 9.85 Tcf in the same period in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Natural gas production in the shale-rich “Other States” category was down 0.5% in April compared with the previous month, and total U.S. production of just over 2.60 Tcf in April pushed the total for the first four months of the year to 10.31 Tcf, a 4.7% increase from the same period in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

As anticipated for months, North Dakota finally cracked the magic 1 million bbl mark for daily crude oil production in April, joining an elite list of oil-producing states and nations, according to state officials Tuesday who released the most recent production totals for oil and natural gas. Records keep being set with regularity.

Sales by more than two dozen leading natural gas marketers during the first three months of 2014 increased 0.61 Bcf/d (about 0.5%) compared with 1Q2013, a small rebound for a market that had been on a downward slope for nearly two years, according to NGI’s 1Q2014 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

Mostly harsh winter weather was attributed to North Dakota’s oil and natural gas production remaining depressed in February, the most recent month for which the state has complete statistics, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Oil/Gas Division reported Friday. Final data from March and April likely will show a turnaround, DMR Director Lynn Helms said.

Natural gas marketers continued to report significant declines in sales in the last three months of 2013 compared with 4Q2012, and the top three marketers — BP plc, Shell Energy NA and ConocoPhillips — were among those with the largest declines, according to NGI’s 4Q2013 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

At the close of a turbulent year, EXCO Resources Inc. ended 2013 with production decreases and a rising tide of red ink, but moves it made in the Eagle Ford Shale last year may be the light at the end of the tunnel, company officials said.

Based on projections of flat natural gas demand, record production and unseasonably warm weather, natural gas prices this winter are expected to be flat compared with a year ago, when Henry Hub prices averaged $3.47/MMBtu, according to the Natural Gas Supply Association’s (NGSA) 13th Annual Winter Outlook.

Natural gas production in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Other States category, which includes Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia — and, with them, some of the nation’s booming shale plays — reached 26.37 Bcf/d in July, compared with 26.13 Bcf/d in June and 22.67 Bcf/d in July 2012, EIA said Monday.