PBIOS - October 2021 - 141

FIGURE 3
Monthly U.S. Natural Gas Pipeline Gross Exports and Imports
(Jan 2000-Dec 2022)
14
12
10
8
6
2
4
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO)
STEO
forecast
LNG export capacity and expanded its
LNG export destinations.
" We expect U.S. imports of natural gas
by pipeline and as LNG, combined, to increase
by 6% compared with 2020, averaging
7.4 Bcf/d in 2021, before declining to 6.9
Bcf/d in 2022, " EIA projects (Figure 3).
imports
exports
" Almost all U.S. natural gas imports enter
the United States from Canada into midwestern
and western demand markets. U.S.
pipeline imports previously had been declining
annually since 2008. However, we
expect pipeline imports of natural gas to
increase in 2021 because of relatively flat
U.S. dry natural gas production and slightly
higher U.S. natural gas consumption. "
Meanwhile, EIA says, exports by
pipeline-almost all of which are sent to
Mexico-began exceeding gross pipeline
imports on an annual basis in 2019. ❒
Associated Gas Output Fell In 2020
WASHINGTON-In 2020, annual production
of associated-dissolved natural
gas produced from oil wells declined in
the combined five major U.S. onshore
crude oil-producing regions for the first
time since 2016, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reports (Figure 1).
According to EIA, the share of associated
gas produced in the Permian, Bakken,
Eagle Ford, Niobrara and Anadarko regions
slipped 1.5% year over year and averaged
37.7% of those regions' natural gas output.
Associated gas production averaged 14.2
billion cubic feet a day in 2020, a 4.1%
decline from 2019, amid a 9.2% drop in
the regions' oil production.
Until 2020, the share of associated
FIGURE 1
Natural Gas Production by Type in U.S. Crude Oil Production Regions (2006-2020)
40
35
30
25
20
10
15
5
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Enverus Drillinginfo data
OCTOBER PBIOS 2021 141
2016
2018
2020
50%
gas in these five regions-along with oil
production-had been climbing, the administration
observes. It goes on to note
that between 2016 and 2019, associated
gas production grew at an unprecedented
speed (increasing 6.1 Bcf across those
three years) thanks to high levels of new
crude oil production. But in 2020, it observes,
production of both crude oil and
associated gas declined as responses to
COVID-19 decreased crude demand.
According to EIA, the Permian region
yielded 50% of total U.S. associated gas
in 2020. Only the Permian region increased
its production of both crude oil and associated
gas in 2020, but these increases
did not offset declines in both crude oil
and associated gas production in the other
four regions. The administration attributes
some of the Permian's increase in associated
gas production to expansions in
natural gas takeaway capacity.
EIA mentions that high associated gas
production influenced output of natural
gas liquids such as ethane, propane,
normal butane, isobutane and natural
gasoline. Despite the 2020 decline in associated
gas, years of rising associated
gas production led to record high volumes
of NGL production in 2020, driven by
high ethane demand. Ethane consumption
has been growing steadily both domestically
and through exports since 2014,
EIA concludes.
❒
40%
30%
associated gas
20%
natural gas
(nonassociated gas)
10%
0%
percentage associated gas
billion cubic feet a day
billion cubic feet a day
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