DENVER, May 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Natural gas production in the lower 48 United States hit a one-day record of 73.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) at the end of April, according to Bentek Energy(®), an analytics and forecasting unit of Platts. The monthly average production of 72.9 Bcf/d realized in April was also a record, which was 8%, or 5.7 Bcf/d, greater than the monthly average production in April 2014. On a month-over-month basis, April natural gas production was up less than 1% from March.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will publish its domestic production estimates for March on or around May 29, 2015.

"The monthly average production record of 72.9 Bcf/d in April was achieved through a combination of maintenance roll off and growth across different regions," said Sami Yahya, Bentek energy analyst. "The Northeast recovered from a couple of maintenance events during the last week of April, allowing Appalachian production to surge past 19.6 Bcf/d again. Production growth in the Permian helped boost Texas onshore production by about 60 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). And most importantly, Discovery pipeline boosted Louisiana Offshore volumes through the addition of two new offshore facilities--Lucius and Hadrian South--which added a total of 450 MMcf/d of new capacity. Volumes through Discovery jumped from a 30-day average of 150 MMcf/d to nearly 500 MMcf/d during the second half of April."

Bentek data analysis suggests 2015 U.S. natural gas production will average approximately 73 Bcf/d, with growth occurring throughout the year, driven primarily by continued production gains in the Northeast, and supplemented by additional supply from Texas and Midcontinent.

The Bentek data analysis is based on an extensive sample of near real-time production receipt data from the U.S. lower 48 interstate pipeline system. Platts' Bentek production models are highly correlated with and provide an advance glimpse of federal government statistics from the U.S. EIA.

This Bentek Energy U.S. natural gas production data estimate will be published every month covering the previous month's output activity. Bentek's dry gas production estimates are not observed data and are based on pipeline receipt nominations and certain state production data.

Bentek Energy, which specializes in energy market analytics and is recognized as the industry leader in natural gas market fundamental analysis was acquired by Platts in 2011. For more information about natural gas supply and demand fundamentals and Bentek Energy, visit www.bentekenergy.com. For more information about natural gas spot price trends, or Platts, a leading global energy, petrochemical and metals information provider, visit the website at www.platts.com.

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SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts