US’s Top Gas Producer EQT Said That Output dropped by 30% in Cold Snap

(Bloomberg) — EQT Corp., America’s largest natural gas producer, saw its production fall by about 30% due to the extreme cold that disrupted some of its wells within the Appalachian Basin.

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The drillers’ daily output fell by between 1 billion and 1.5 billion cubic feet per day during the winter storm, Chief Executive Officer Toby Rice said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Compare this to the equivalent of 5 billion cubic feet per day for production in the 3rd quarter. Output issues are expected to be resolved in the “next couple of days,” he said.

Rice deemed the slump in US natural gas production during the Arctic blast as “normal” under the circumstances and said that the industry was able to respond “very quickly,” while adding that he thinks renewable power sources “didn’t show up.”

Wind’s share in total Mid-Atlantic and Northeast electricity supplies actually increased during the worst of the storm, according to Energy Information Administration data.

He also reiterated his desire to see more natural gas pipelines in order to increase the supply of heating and power-generation fuel.

–With the help of Paul Sweeney.

(Updates with wind-power generation data in the fourth paragraph.

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