US passes Russia as top gas producer

File photo dated 04/09/2006 showing a generic view of a gas ring. An Npower spokesman has said percentage tariff increases for both electricity and gas will be in the double digits.

Rui Vieira

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Noah Brenner

 12 January 2010 19:03 GMT

The US overtook Russia as the world’s largest natural-gas producer last year as operators tapped unconventional resources while demand in Russia plunged amid the country’s worst economic decline on record.



US output advanced 3.9%t in January through October to 18.3 trillion feet (519 billion cubic metres), according to the latest Department of Energy data.

Russian output, about four-fifths of which comes from state-run Gazprom, plunged 17% in the period to 462 billion cubic metres.

“Minimal hurricane disruptions and significant growth in production from onshore shale basins have contributed to the increase in domestic supply,” the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency said on its Web site last month.

The US growth trend may indicate that Gazprom will not be able to break…

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