Low Gas Prices Crush Appalachia Shale Boom

Low natural gas prices have finally brought the decade-long shale gas boom in Appalachia to a halt. Gas production in Appalachia declined by about 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) over the past 30 days, bringing output down to an average of 32.7 Bcf/d, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. That helped drag down overall U.S. gas production to 91.8 Bcf/d, a 1.7 percent decline from 93.4 Bcf/d in November. The Permian hogs a lot of attention in the press, but the Marcellus shale has been growing at a blistering rate for about a decade.…