May 2012, Vol. 239 No. 5

In The News

U.S. Gas Production Outlook By Major Basin To 2020

Ziff Energy has released its latest report providing a production outlook for the major gas supply basins in U.S. Lower 48 states. Figure 1 illustrates the recent growth of gas production in U.S. Lower 48 since 2000, driven by surging shale gas development, and which basins are growing or shrinking.

Ziff Energy expects that due to weak gas prices, production will grow 1% in 2012 despite the rapid decline of production from existing wells.

Dr. Lev Virine, the paper’s co-author, says “The report provides a detailed analysis of major gas supply basins in U.S Lower 48 states based on Ziff Energy’s gas well productivity, decline, and production forecasting models. By assessing gas production for each gas basin, a ground up analysis of the total U.S Lower 48 gas supply is available. Overall, we believe U.S Lower 48 gas production will approach 73 Bcf/d by 2020.”