U.S. Now Produces More Gas than Russia

I knew that the steep rise in production from unconventional natural gas sources such as shale had had a big impact on the global supply market, but this piece of news is incredible:

U.S. output advanced 3.9 percent in January through October to 18.3 trillion feet (519 billion cubic meters), according to the latest Department of Energy data. Russian output, about four-fifths of which comes from state-run OAO Gazprom, plunged 17 percent in the period to 462 billion cubic meters.

Not only has the supply glut hampered Russia’s plans to break into the U.S. market (they’ve had an office in Houston for years now), but it has also created “a huge oversupply of LNG in Europe.”

This news reiterates other reports that Gazprom is going to have some big troubles this year.