US production and consumption of dry natural gas hit records in 2019

The U.S. production of dry natural gas increased last year to a record 34 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) while consumption increased to 31 Tcf – also a record.

The increase has been steady over the past decade due to the widespread adoption of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques that have expanded the ability to produce natural gas from shale formations. Production of dry natural gas has exceeded consumption in the U.S. annually since 2017, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports.

As natural gas production has increased so have exports. Last year, the U.S. exported a record of nearly 5 Tcf of natural gas, mostly by pipeline to Mexico and Canada, or shipped overseas as liquefied natural gas (LNG). Meanwhile, natural gas imports in 2019 were less than 3 Tcf, the lowest level since 2015. Most U.S. natural gas imports come from Canada. Natural gas exports surpassed natural gas imports in 2017 for the first time since 1957 – and have stayed there.

According to the EIA, more than two-thirds of the dry natural gas consumed in the United States in 2019 was used by the electric power and industrial sectors. Natural gas has been the predominant source of electricity generation in the United States since surpassing coal in 2016. Consumption is nearly evenly split among the electric power sector (36 percent of total natural gas consumption in 2019); the industrial sector (33 percent); and the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors (31 percent combined).