A notable increase since early 2012 in natural gas production in West Virginia and nearby counties in southern Pennsylvania continued through July 2013. Although producers have increasingly shifted their attention to more liquids-rich shale gas in the wet gas regions of these states, production in the dry gas regions has benefitted from the addition of infrastructure, improving takeaway capacity from their gas fields.
From July to September last year, the following projects expanded the production capacity of West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania by almost 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d):
Natural gas production in West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania has risen as these expansions provided increased access to markets. Production in West Virginia averaged 2.34 Bcf/d through mid-July 2013, compared to 1.55 Bcf/d through mid-July 2012, a 51% increase. Production in the nearby dry regions of southern Pennsylvania doubled during this period, from 0.86 Bcf/d to 1.73 Bcf/d.
Additional growth in West Virginia is expected as Texas Eastern announced plans to build a 0.39 Bcf/d pipeline lateral to its mainline from Dominion’s 0.20 Bcf/d Natrium processing plant in West Virginia by the end of 2014. Planned processing plant expansions through the end of this year could also add significantly to the state’s processing capacity, which totaled 0.85 Bcf/d in 2012.