Natural gas production drops in fourth quarter, IFO report finds

The state’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its fourth-quarter report on natural gas production in the Commonwealth.

Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the report stated that natural gas production volume from horizontal wells was 1,856 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the fourth quarter of 2022. This represents a 5.1 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2021 and is the fourth consecutive quarter that production did not increase year-over-year. Further, it represents the biggest year-over-year decline in quarterly production since monthly production data have been published in 2015.

It also revealed that full-year horizontal production totaled 7,439 bcf, a 1.6 percent decline from the prior year. This marks the first annual decline since unconventional production volume data became available in 2012.

In addition, 136 new horizontal wells spud in the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 18 wells – or 11.7 percent — compared to the same period in the prior year. For the full year, new wells totaled 574, an increase of 56 wells – or 10.8 percent — from the prior year. Further, 2022 was the second consecutive year there was an annual increase in drilling.

The report also found that there were 11,346 total producing wells in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of 5.3 percent from the prior year. Horizontal producing wells, which account for more than 99 percent of production, increased by 5.5 percent.

The quarterly report also includes county-level production and well count comparisons, state production comparisons from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and natural gas hub spot price trends from Bentek Energy. The data is presented on a quarterly basis to show recent trends in natural gas activity in Pennsylvania.