Natural gas was the United States' largest source of energy production in 2016, representing 33 percent of all energy produced in the country.US Energy Information Administration,Overview, accessed 13 February 2017. Natural gas has been the largest source of electrical generation in the United States since July 2015.
In 2012, the United States produced 25.3 trillion cubic feet of marketed natural gas, with an average wellhead value of $2.66 per thousand cubic feet, for a total wellhead value of $67.3 billion.Marketed natural gas production, and average wellhead price, US EIA. In 2013, the country produced 30.0 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of marketed gas. With 7,545 billion cubic feet (BCF), the leading gas-producing area in the United States in 2013 was Texas, followed by Pennsylvania (3,259 BCF), and Louisiana (2,407 BCF). U.S. natural gas production achieved record highs for each year from 2011 through 2015. Marketed natural gas production in 2015 was 28.8 trillion cubic feet, a 5.4 percent increase over 2014, and a 52 percent increase over the production of 18.9 trillion cubic feet in 2005.US EIA, Natural gas wellhead value and marketed production, accessed 25 April 2015. The natural gas industry includes exploration for, production, processing, transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas and natural gas liquids.American Petroleum Institute, , accessed 20 February 2010. The exploration for and production of natural gas and petroleum form a single industry, and many wells produce both oil and gas.
Because of the greater supply, consumer prices for natural gas are significantly lower in the United States than in Europe and Japan. The low price of natural gas, together with its smaller carbon footprint compared to coal, has encouraged rapid growth in electricity generated from natural gas.
Between 2005 and 2014, U.S. production of natural gas liquids (NGLs) increased 70 percent, from 1.74 million barrels per day in 2005 to 2.96 million barrels per day in 2014.
Although the United States leads the world in natural gas production, it is only fifth in proven reserves of natural gas, behind Russia, Iran, Qatar, and Turkmenistan.
Industry structure
The United States oil and gas industry is often informally divided into "upstream" (exploration and production), "midstream" (transportation and refining), and "downstream" (distribution and marketing). Petroleum and natural gas share a common upstream (exploration and production) sector, but the midstream and downstream sectors are largely separate. All large oil companies in the U.S. produce both oil and gas. However, the relative amounts of oil and gas produced vary greatly. Of the top ten natural gas-producing companies in the U.S. in 2009, only three (BP, ConocoPhiillips, and XTO) were also among the top ten oil producers.
Top natural gas producers in the United States, 2009 Rank Company Billion cubic ft./year 1 BP 907 2 XTO Energy 855 3 ConocoPhillips 850 4 Chesapeake Energy 835 5 Anadarko Petroleum 817 6 Devon Energy 743 7 Encana 590 8 ExxonMobil 566 9 Williams Companies 435 10 EOG Resources 422 Annual owned production, 2009. Source:US Energy Information Administration, Top 100 Operators, 2009, accessed 2 August 2015. In 2009, the production owned by the top ten companies was 31% of total U.S. natural gas production.
Exploration
In 2010, the industry drilled and completed 16,696 wells primarily for gas, slightly more than the number of wells drilled primarily for oil (15,753). Many wells produced both oil and gas, and oil wells produced 18 percent of U.S. gas production in 2013. Of the gas wells, 1,105 were exploratory wells and 15,591 were development wells.Crude oil and natural gas exploratory and development wells, US Energy Information Administration.
The number of actively drilling gas rigs was once regarded as a reliable leading indicator of near-future gas production. As of 2013, the average number of active gas drill rigs has fallen each year for four straight years from 2010 (942 rigs) to 2014 (332 rigs), a drop of 65 percent, even while gas production rose each year for the same period, from 21.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in 2010 to 25.7 TCF in 2014, an increase of 21 percent. Remaining proved reserves increased overall, from 301 TCF in 2013 to 338 TCF in 2013, an increase of 11 percent. The rise in gas production despite fewer rigs drilling has been explained by the greater efficiency in drilling and the greater productivity of shale gas wells.Rethinking rig count as a predictor of natural gas production, US Energy Information Administration, 28 Oct. 2013.
By 2025, the relationship between drilling activity and natural gas production had weakened further. The number of natural-gas-directed rigs in the United States declined by 23% between December 2022 and October 2025, to about 120 rigs, while production continued to increased. The U.S Enerdy Information Administration attributed this divergence partly to longer horizontal laterals, improves completion techniques and the concentration of drilling in more productive areas.
U.S marketed natural gas production reached a record average of 118.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2025, an increase of 5.3 Bcf/d from previous year, The Appalachia, Permian and Haynesville regions accounted for 67% of marketed production and 81% of the increase during the year. Exploration and p[roduction activity has also remained sensitive to changes in natueal gas prices and short-term supply conditions. In January 2026, EBC Financial Group market analyst Rylan Chase attributed a sharp rise in U.S natural gas prices to increased heating demand during extremes cold weather and the risk of production disruptions from freezing conditions; the Henry Hub spot prices averaged $7.72 per million British thermal units during the month, its highest monthly average since September 2022, while inventories fell by a record 360 billion cubic feet in the week January 30.
Production
+ Top producing gas fields in the United States, 2013US Energy Information Administration, Top 100 U.S. oil and gas fields, Mar. 2015 Rank Field State Discovery year Billion cubic ft./year 1 Marcellus Shale Pennsylvania and West Virginia 2008 2,836 2 Newark East Barnett Shale Texas 1981 1,952 3 Haynesville Shale Louisiana and Texas 2008 1,426 4 Eagle Ford Formation Texas 1962 1,112 5 Fayetteville Shale Arkansas 2005 1,025 6 San Juan Basin New Mexico and Colorado 1927 1,025 7 Carthage Texas 1936 653 8 Pinedale Gas Field Wyoming 1955 568 9 Spraberry Texas 1949 307 10 Wattenberg Gas Field Colorado 1970 305
The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes annual natural gas production data in aggregate by well type: traditional oil wells and gas wells, coalbed methane wells, and shale gas wells.
Oil and gas
Most oil fields produce some gas, and vice versa, but the ratio of oil and gas varies considerably. In fields developed to produce oil, the natural gas is in a raw form called associated gas. Some fields, called "dry gas" fields, produce only gas. Of the top ten gas-producing fields in the U.S., only one, the Eagle Ford, is also among the top ten oil fields. The number of wells classified as traditional gas wells has been declining in recent years as they are replaced by shale gas wells.
The associated gas from oil wells is utilized similarly to other sources of natural gas, or may be re-injected for storage and to enhance oil production. In some cases, the well operator may designate the gas as a waste product, and large amounts of gas may be intentionally vented or flared depending on local regulations.
In 2025, U.S. dry natural gas production is forecast to reach a record annual average of 105.2 billion cubic feet per day, driven by continued growth in the Permian, Appalachian, and Haynesville regions. This increase is supporting record LNG exports and meeting strong domestic demand.
Coalbed methane
Coalbed methane production in the U.S. peaked at 1.97 TCF in 2008, when it made up 7.8 percent of U.S. gas production. By 2018, coalbed methane production had declined to 0.95 TCF.
Shale gas
Since 2000, shale gas has become a key source of natural gas in the U.S. Production rose more than tenfold from 2007 to 2018, when shale gas contributed 23.6 TCF, 63 percent of U.S. gas production, and was still increasing.
Gas prices
The most commonly quoted producer price for natural gas is the Louisiana-based Henry Hub price, which is futures-traded on NYMEX.
A barrel of oil releases about 5.8 million BTU when burned, so that 5.8 MCF of gas (at the standard one thousand BTU per cubic foot) releases about the same energy as a barrel of oil. Sometimes gas containing 5.8 million BTU is defined as a "barrel of oil equivalent for energy calculation purposes.Energy units . When describing reserves or production, however, the oil and gas industry more commonly uses the rounded number of 6 MCF of gas (or 6 million BTU in natural gas) as equal to one barrel of oil equivalent.US Geological Survey.
Since the price of natural gas was deregulated in the 1990s, its price has tended to parallel that of oil, with oil usually at a premium on a BTU basis. But starting in the late 2000s, an abundance of natural gas in North America has caused the price of a unit of energy from gas to be much lower than the price of energy from oil.
Pipelines
When oil and natural gas are brought to the surface, they are usually separated at the wellhead, after which the oil and the gas are treated separately. Gas flows through a gathering system into a pipeline to a gas processing plant. As of 2014, there were 189,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipelines in the United StatesChristopher E. Smith, "Oil pipelines lead way in strong 2014," Oil & Gas Journal, 7 Sept. 2015, p.111.
Processing
Natural gas has a variety of chemical constituents that must be removed or diluted with other gases to achieve consistent pipeline quality. Pipeline gas specifications vary from line to line, but generally the gas must contain no appreciable hydrogen sulfide (which is toxic), less than a few percent carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which is corrosive to iron and steel pipe), and a British thermal unit (BTU) content of 900 or more. Natural gas delivered to consumers generally has a BTU content of about 1020 to 1050 per standard cubic foot, slightly higher than that of pure methane (1010 BTU).US EIA, BTU content, accessed 2 August 2015.
Liquids Natural gas is composed primarily of methane, but often contains longer-chain hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon compounds from hexane (each molecule of which is a simple chain containing six carbon atoms, hence called C6) and heavier generally separate out ("condense") from the gas at the wellhead; this mixture is called condensate, and is usually reported as oil production, and sold to refineries the same as oil. The C2 through C5 hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, butane, and pentane) are known as natural gas liquids (NGLs), and remain in gaseous form until they are extracted at a gas processing plant.Schlumberger, Natural gas liquids accessed 2 August 2015 The division between the two classes is not perfect: some hexane and heptane remain in the gas to be separated out as NGLs, while some butane and pentane may separate out with the condensate.
Natural gas, which contains NGLs, is called "wet gas." Gas which naturally contains no NGLs, or gas from which the NGLs have been removed, is called "dry gas."
Natural gas liquids are used either for fuel (sold as propane or liquid petroleum gas (LPG), or as feedstock for the petrochemical industry.
The United States has been the world's top producer of NGLs since 2010, and is far above second-place Saudi Arabia, which produced 1.82 million barrels per day in 2015.