Natural Gas Productive Capacity for the Lower-48 States
An important issue facing the U.S. natural gas markets is whether natural gas production will rise to meet expected growth in demand and replenish natural gas storage to more normal levels. Gas well completions have increased steadily since April 1999; however, lags of several months in the availability of natural gas production data, and the fact that production levels tend to be revised upward over time, leaves considerable uncertainty regarding the supply response resulting from these increased drilling levels. This assessment attempts to estimate the increases in natural gas productive capacity which should be expected given recent natural gas drilling and price trends.