?In May 2008, U.S. natural gas supply swelled 8.8% on a year-over-year basis from May 2007 levels. According to Credit Suisse research analysts Jonathan Wolff and Anish Patel, American gas wells pushed out another 4.6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day to raise daily U.S. production to an average of 61.8 Bcf. On a year-to-date basis, supply grew 8.8%.
This May, huge jumps in onshore production—5.6 Bcf a day—were tempered by losses from offshore. That was a temporary situation, however, brought on by the shutdown of Independence Hub. Onshore stars were Texas and Wyoming, which grew daily volumes by 3.2 Bcf and 700 million cubic feet, respectively, from May 2007 levels.
The prolific homegrown gas supply was also supplemented by imports. Liquefied natural gas imports contributed 1 Bcf a day, just half of LNG totals in May 2007. Daily Canadian gas imports managed to grow by 400 million cubic feet to 9.5 Bcf. Year to date, Canadian imports averaged 10.5 Bcf a day for the first five months of 2008. However, the Credit Suisse analysts expect daily Canadian imports to fall by up to 1 Bcf for the balance of the year.
Consumers have responded to growing supply by burning more gas. In May, not typically a month ?for strong gas consumption, daily U.S. demand rose to 52.9 Bcf, a 2.8-Bcf increase from year-ago levels.