On August 18, the Independent Fiscal Office issued its quarterly natural gas production report which shows natural gas production decreased for the second quarter in a row-- a 0.9% decrease in the second quarter and a 0.6% decrease in the first quarter of 2022, compared to last year.

IFO said this is the first time year-over-year production declined for consecutive quarters since the data became available in 2015.

While production has decreased, the first two quarters saw an increase in the number of new shale gas wells drilled or “spud”-- 10.8% increase in second quarter and 10.5% increase in first quarter, compared to last year.

The IFO said the recent uptick in drilling is likely in response to “elevated natural gas prices.”

The number of producing wells increased by 4.4 percent.

[Note: The PA Public Utility Commission reported major natural gas utilities have increased the price for natural gas they provide their customers by as much as 154 percent over the last year.  Read more here.

[Natural gas prices are controlled by international markets that are now heavily affected by the Russian war in Ukraine.  Natural gas prices have spiked to their highest levels in the last 15 years [Read more here] and have increased 525 percent since June 2020 [Read more here].]

Click Here for a copy of the report.

(Photo: FracTracker Alliance.)

NewsClips:

-- Bloomberg: Natural Gas Shortage Fears Has Prices Flirting With Levels Not Seen In U.S. In 15 Years

-- CNN: U.S. Natural Gas Prices Spike To 14-Year High, Prices Up 525% Since June 2020

-- Bloomberg: Asia Natural Gas Prices At Highest Since Russian War Began On Fuel Crunch

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Advance As Energy Crisis Pounds Region

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Time For Pennsylvania’s Real Energy Freedom - Sharon Pillar, PA Solar Center

-- Wilkes-Barre Times Guest Essay: Key To Lower Energy Prices Is Renewable Energy & Storage - Sharon Pillar, PA Solar Center

-- Baker Hughes PA Natural Gas Drill Rig Count - No Change From Last Week - 23

Related Articles:

-- PA PUC: Cost Of Natural Gas Provided By Major Utilities In PA Increased As Much As 154% Over Last Year  [PaEN]

-- PUC: 4 Major Electric Utilities Have Double Digit Electric Price Increases Coming Sept. 1 Caused By Spike In Natural Gas, Energy Costs, Hot Weather  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Want To Rewrite Penn State Study Showing Their Drilling Wastewater Dumped On Roads Is Bad For Human Health, Environment  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Conventional Oil & Gas Driller Compliance Review Will Go Back At Least 5 Years; Whether It Will Be Public Document Not Decided  [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Q/A With Eliza Griswold Pulitzer Winning Author Of Deep Dive Into Fracking In PA, How Extractive Industries ‘Gut’ Communities - By David Shribman, Former Editor Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  [PaEN]

-- Climate Wire: New Federal Climate, Energy Law Includes New $700 Million Grant Program To Mitigate Methane Emissions From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells   [PaEN]

-- Yale School Of Public Health Study Found PA Children 2 To 3 Times More Likely To Be Diagnosed With Leukemia If They Live Near Unconventional Shale Gas Facilities  [PaEN]

-- Grant Township Charter Banning Drilling Wastewater Injection Wells Struck Down By State Court; Decision Appealed To PA Supreme Court  [PaEN]

-- New Poll: Strong Majority Of PA Voters Support Climate Action To Cut Carbon and Methane Pollution  [PaEN]

-- DEP Suspending Enforcement Of Certain Vapor Leak Monitoring For Small Gasoline Storage Tanks In Philadelphia, Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley Areas  [PaEN]

-- PA Supreme Court: Accounting Required For Environmental Rights Amendment Trust Fund Money From State Forest Oil & Gas Drilling - By John C. Dernbach, Commonwealth Law School, Widener University   [PaEN]

[Posted: August 18, 2022]

8/22/2022