Even though drilling targeting natural gas has declined to a multi-year low, US gas production continues to increase as E&P companies grow oil production and with it, oil-associated gas. As noted by the Energy Information Agency (EIA), a new daily gas production record of 92.8 BCF per day was reached on August 19, 2019, up from about 72 BCF/day in January 2018. This substantial increase occurred even as the price of natural gas continued to slide, falling from approximately $3.20 in early 2018 to less than $2.30 at the end of August 2019. Since that time, prices have rebounded somewhat with the normal seasonality of the markets, trading in the $2.50 - $2.70 range in September, though they remain well below the same period in most previous years. Further, according to EIA forecasts, little improvement is expected for the remaining months of 2019 and early 2020 as storage volumes are within normal ranges and production continues to keep pace with demand.
