U.S. natural gas production reached an all-time high as output surged in Texas and New Mexico’s Permian Basin, while new pipelines expand access to Gulf Coast export terminals and the Trump administration rolls back Biden-era restrictions on fossil-fuel power generation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
WASHINGTON — U.S. natural gas production climbed to an all-time high, driven largely by rapidly increasing output from the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, according to new federal energy data.
Gross withdrawals — the total volume of natural gas extracted at the wellhead before processing — reached a record 137 billion cubic feet per day in July, according to an Oct. 2 Energy Information Administration analysis.
It was the first new monthly gross-withdrawal record of 2026 after five record-setting months during 2025.
The July increase was led by Texas and New Mexico, where gross natural gas withdrawals jumped by a combined 1.7 billion cubic feet per day from June, an increase of 3.2% in a single month.
Production also increased by more than 0.1 billion cubic feet per day in Louisiana, Oklahoma and North Dakota.
The EIA attributed much of the national growth to new wells coming online in the Permian Basin, the vast oil- and gas-producing region extending across western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
The Permian is among the most productive energy regions in the world and produces large volumes of natural gas alongside crude oil. Rising gas-to-oil ratios in the basin are contributing to increasing natural gas production even as operators continue concentrating heavily on oil development.
July also established all-time records for two additional measures of U.S. natural gas production: marketed production and dry gas production.
Gross withdrawals represent the full stream of natural gas extracted from oil and gas wells. Marketed production subtracts gas used for repressuring wells, gas that is vented or flared and nonhydrocarbon gases removed during processing.
Dry production represents consumer-grade natural gas after natural gas plant liquids have also been removed.
The record comes after U.S. marketed natural gas output had already accelerated during the first half of the year.
Marketed production averaged 121.3 billion cubic feet per day during the first six months of 2026, up 4%, or 4.6 billion cubic feet per day, from the same period in 2025, according to an earlier EIA assessment of U.S. production.
The agency projected in August that marketed natural gas production would average 122.5 billion cubic feet per day for all of 2026, surpassing the previous annual record of 118.5 billion cubic feet per day set in 2025.
Much of the expansion has been concentrated in the Permian region and the Haynesville region of Louisiana and Texas.
Pipeline construction is helping producers move growing supplies out of areas where limited transportation capacity had previously created bottlenecks.
New infrastructure is increasing the amount of Permian gas that can be transported toward the Gulf Coast, where expanding liquefied natural gas terminals provide access to international markets.
The Hugh Brinson Pipeline began interstate flows ahead of schedule during the summer, according to the EIA, adding another route for natural gas leaving the Permian.
Additional pipeline capacity can support further production by reducing congestion that previously forced producers to accept deeply discounted prices — and at times negative prices — for natural gas trapped within the basin.
The increased ability to move gas from West Texas and New Mexico to the Gulf Coast also connects growing domestic production with the United States’ expanding LNG export industry.
The United States has emerged as a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to international markets, while domestic natural gas remains a major fuel for electricity generation, industrial activity, heating and manufacturing.
Growth in natural gas and oil production has also contributed to record exports of propane, which is produced as a byproduct of natural gas processing and crude oil refining.
U.S. propane exports averaged a record 2 million barrels per day during the first half of 2026, according to a separate EIA report released Oct. 1.
That was 11% higher than during the same six months of 2025.
“Increased U.S. propane production and changing trade flows, particularly increased exports to India and other countries in South Asia, drove propane exports to a record high of 2.1 million b/d in April 2026,” the EIA said. “Since then, total propane exports, including exports to India, have continued at levels well above the five-year average.”
Propane production has increased substantially over the past decade alongside the expansion of U.S. natural gas output. Higher American production has also contributed to lower U.S. propane prices relative to Asian markets, helping make exports competitive internationally.
Trade patterns have shifted as well.
Exports to India and other South Asian countries increased as buyers sought additional U.S. supplies, while American propane shipments to China fell following tariffs imposed by Beijing.
The growth in natural gas production comes as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to remove federal restrictions that it says discourage coal- and natural gas-fired electricity generation.
On Sept. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a partial repeal of the Biden administration’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuel power plants.
The EPA action repealed the majority of the 2024 greenhouse-gas requirements and was accompanied by a proposal to eliminate remaining federal greenhouse-gas standards for power plants.
The 2024 Biden-era rules had imposed carbon limits on existing coal plants and certain natural gas facilities, relying heavily on requirements involving carbon capture and storage for plants continuing to operate over longer periods.
Trump administration officials have argued that those requirements threatened grid reliability, discouraged use of abundant domestic energy resources and increased electricity costs.
The EPA estimated that repeal of most of the 2024 requirements could produce approximately $310 billion in savings.
The agency said the changes are intended to “unleash the full potential” of American energy resources, including natural gas and coal.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said dispatchable fossil-fuel plants remain important because they can produce electricity when demand is high regardless of weather conditions affecting renewable generation.
“Today’s announcement will help ensure reliable electricity generation regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining by allowing coal and natural gas plants to keep generating power when Americans need it most,” Wright said.
Environmental organizations sharply opposed the decision.
Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender accused the administration of weakening one of the federal government’s primary mechanisms for limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from the electricity sector.
“This is full-throated climate denial while the climate crisis happens in real time and a shocking betrayal of the American public. The Sierra Club will fight back against this reckless and dangerous proposal with everything we have in the courts, in Congress, and in communities across the country,” Bender said.
The legal fight over those regulations is expected to continue even as natural gas production reaches unprecedented levels.
Supporters of the administration’s policy argue that increasing domestic gas supplies can help hold down energy costs, strengthen U.S. manufacturing, support electricity reliability and increase American energy exports.
Opponents argue that expanding long-term dependence on natural gas and coal will increase greenhouse-gas emissions and make it more difficult to reduce the electricity sector’s contribution to climate change.
The production data themselves show that the U.S. natural gas industry continues expanding rapidly.
The country was already the world’s largest natural gas producer in the most recent global data available to the EIA, and the agency now expects another annual production record in 2026.
The Permian Basin is increasingly central to that growth.
Between June and July alone, Texas and New Mexico added 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of gross withdrawals. With new pipelines opening additional routes to domestic markets and Gulf Coast LNG terminals, infrastructure that once constrained Permian gas production is becoming less restrictive.
July’s 137 billion cubic feet per day national total therefore represents more than a single monthly record.
Combined with record marketed and dry gas production, rising LNG transportation capacity and unprecedented propane exports, the figures show U.S. energy production continuing to expand as the Trump administration simultaneously moves federal energy policy toward greater reliance on domestic fossil-fuel resources.
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