Arkansas Natural Gas Production Slides 4.1% In June, EIA Says

Natural gas production in Arkansas fell 4.1% in June to 2.81 million cubic feet per day as oversupply concerns and bloated inventories continue to drag prices even lower, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s monthly report released on Tuesday.

In July, the EIA added Arkansas and nine other states to its monthly reporting of natural gas production in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. In May, Arkansas’ natural gas production rose to 2.93 MMcf/d from 2.88 MMcf/d in April.

The monthly Department of Energy report was previously limited to Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and the federal Gulf of Mexico. The recent addition of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia will significantly enhance the department’s monthly coverage, EIA officials said.

This week’s estimates are based on data collected from a sample of U.S. operators on the expanded Form EIA-914 survey, with the exception of Alaska, which directly reports its volumes. Monthly production estimates for the expansion states, as with the original individually surveyed states and areas, are available with a two-month lag.

Overall, U.S. natural gas production fell 0.1% in June to 89.5 MMcf/d from 89.6 MMcf/d in May. Texas led with 24.9 MMcf/d of natural gas production, followed by Pennsylvania and Alaska at 12.5 MMcf/d and 7.4 MMcf/d, respectively.

Ohio saw the biggest monthly production gains in June, spiking 12.6% to leapfrog past Arkansas in total production at 2.84 MMcf/d. Texas also advanced by 3.8%, followed by Oklahoma’s modest gain of 1.8% to 6.98 MMcf/d of natural gas production.

Alaska saw the biggest decline in June, falling 11.6%. Arkansas was second on the list of decliners, followed by West Virginia and Louisiana at 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively.

To view EIA’s new monthly natural gas production page, click here.

On Thursday, the Department of Energy will release its natural gas storage report for the week ending Sept. 4. Analysts expect U.S. stockpiles of nearly 80 billion cubic feet, compared to inventories of 90 billion cubic feet a year ago. In the morning session Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures fell 2.2 cents, or 0.83% at $2.688 per million British thermal units.