Natural Gas Price Collapse Has Shale Drillers Hitting the Brakes

(Bloomberg) -- As U.S. natural gas prices plummet to 1990s-era lows, production is finally showing signs of a slowdown after years of runaway growth.

Output from the lower 48 states has dropped to the lowest level since September, data from BloombergNEF show. While production usually slips in January as frigid weather disrupts drilling, weak prices are driving the decline this time around, according to BNEF analyst Tai Liu.

Explorers have been completing fewer wells in Appalachia and in Louisiana’s Haynesville shale since the second quarter of 2019, data from BloombergNEF and the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. The pullback means output is poised to fall even further, Liu said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Naureen S. Malik in New York at nmalik28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Christine Buurma, Joe Carroll

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