Embargoed until 11:00 A.M. Eastern, Wednesday, July 9, 1997

1997 NGSA SURVEY

ON

NATURAL GAS FIELD DELIVERIES

AND PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

JUNE 1997

NATURAL GAS SUPPLY ASSOCIATION

805 15^TH STREET, N.W.

SUITE 510

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE

1997 NATURAL GAS SUPPLY ASSOCIATION (NGSA) SURVEY

OF NATURAL GAS FIELD DELIVERIES AND PRODUCTIVE

CAPACITY

Attached are the preliminary 1997 NGSA natural gas deliverability survey results based on 102 survey responses representing about 59 percent of lower-48 natural gas production (Schedule 1). The preliminary results contain the following trends:

o Connected gas field capacity reported by the survey respondents grew by 2.7 percent during 1996, resulting in a January 1, 1997 connected capacity that is 820 MMcf/day greater than the January 1, 1996 figure (Schedule 2).(1)

o Unconnected gas field capacity increased by 8.9 percent between January 1, 1996 and January 1, 1997. With significant gains in both connected and unconnected capacity, total gas field capacity grew by 3.0 percent during 1996 (Schedule 2).

o January 1, 1997 unconnected capacity was reported as being 4.3 percent of total capacity, which is only a slight increase over the 4.1 percent level reported for January 1, 1996 (Schedule 2).

o Annual capacity utilization rose by one (1.0) percentage point, going from 94.1 percent in 1995 to 95.1 percent in 1996 (Schedule 3). Annual capacity utilization rose due to the 3.8 percent increase in annual deliveries which more than offset the 2.7 percent increase in connected capacity.

o Both the annual capacity utilization and the producers' assessment of their ability to produce has increased over the last year (Schedule 5). The annual maximum feasible capacity utilization in the 1997 survey was reported to be 96.6 percent which is approximately 2 percentage points higher than the 94 percent levels reported in the last three surveys. This indicates that producers have improved their ability to operate closer to the theoretical limit of 100 percent. The increase in the maximum feasible capacity utilization also indicates that a gas deliverability surplus still exists on an annual basis, given the 1.5 percentage point spread between the 1996 annual capacity factor of 95.1 percent and maximum feasible capacity factor of 96.6 percent.

o The December 1996 utilization level was 98.2 percent, about 0.7 percentage points higher than what was reported for December 1995 (Schedule 4). The December maximum feasible capacity utilization was reported to be 96.7 percent, indicating that the gas production industry was operating at full capacity during both Decembers.(2)

Schedule 1 - PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE

1997 NGSA NATURAL GAS PRODUCER DELIVERABILITY SURVEY;

SURVEY COVERAGE RELATIVE TO EIA 1995 PRODUCTION

EIA Data Source: "U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids: 1995 Annual Report," Energy Information Administration, DOE/EIA-0216(95), November 1996, Table 8.

SCHEDULE 2 - PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE1997 NGSA NATURAL GAS PRODUCER DELIVERABILITY SURVEYCONNECTED & UNCONNECTED NATURAL GAS PRODUCTIVE FIELD CAPACITY

( On A Dry Gas Basis)

SCHEDULE 3 - PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE 1997 NGSA NATURAL GAS PRODUCER DELIVERABILITY SURVEY ANNUAL CONNECTED CAPACITY UTILIZATION LEVELS

(On A Dry Gas Basis)

SCHEDULE 4 - PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE 1997 NGSA NATURAL GAS PRODUCER DELIVERABILITY SURVEY

DECEMBER CONNECTED CAPACITY UTILIZATION LEVELS

(On A Dry Gas Basis)

DECEMBER NATURAL GAS FIELD DELIVERIES (MMcf/Day)	SURVEY REGION	DEC. 1995	DEC. 1996	CHANGE IN MAGNITUDE	PERCENT CHANGE
	OFFSHORE GULF	10,935	11,341	406	3.7%
	ONSHORE GULF	6,856	7,320	464	6.8%
	PERMIAN BASIN	2,384	2,412	28	1.2%
	SAN JUAN BASIN	1,367	1,347	(20)	-1.4%
	ANADARKO BASIN	4,107	4,101	(6)	-0.2%
	EAST/N. CENTRAL	772	799	27	3.5%
	ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC	3,099	3,204	105	3.4%
	TOTAL	29,520	30,524	1,004	3.4%

DECEMBER GAS FIELD CAPACITY UTILIZATION (Percent)	SURVEY REGION	DEC. 1995	DEC. 1996	CHANGE IN PERCENT	DECEMBER MAXIMUM FEASIBLE CAPACITY LEVEL
	OFFSHORE GULF	94.3%	95.8%	1.6	96.6%
	ONSHORE GULF	99.5%	100.2%	0.7	97.2%
	PERMIAN BASIN	101.7%	102.3%	0.6	95.8%
	SAN JUAN BASIN	99.8%	99.1%	-0.7	97.2%
	ANADARKO BASIN	99.8%	99.2%	-0.6	96.9%
	EAST/N. CENTRAL	95.8%	98.4%	2.6	96.5%
	ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC	98.6%	97.5%	-1.1	96.2%
	TOTAL	97.5%	98.2%	0.7	96.7%
	ONSHORE/OFFSHORE GULF REGIONS COMBINED	96.2%	97.5%	1.3	96.8%

SCHEDULE 5 - PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE

1997 NGSA NATURAL GAS PRODUCER DELIVERABILITY SURVEY:

COMPARABLE ANNUAL CONNECTED CAPACITY UTILIZATION LEVELS FOR THE PRIOR FOUR NGSA SURVEYS

(On A Dry Gas Basis)

1994 SURVEY	ACTUAL CAPACITY UTILIZATION					ANNUAL MAXIMUM FEASIBLE CAPACITY
	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
OFFSHORE GULF	88.6%	88.8%				93.8%
ONSHORE GULF	89.2%	93.9%				94.4%
PERMIAN BASIN	89.4%	91.5%				95.2%
SAN JUAN BASIN	76.0%	91.6%				93.0%
ANADARKO BASIN	85.0%	88.2%				91.4%
EAST/N. CENTRAL	93.1%	93.8%				95.8%
ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC	89.0%	92.7%				96.0%
TOTAL	87.8%	90.7%				93.9%
1995 SURVEY
OFFSHORE GULF		87.5%	90.3%			94.5%
ONSHORE GULF		93.2%	93.1%			95.2%
PERMIAN BASIN		93.4%	91.1%			95.2%
SAN JUAN BASIN		90.8%	93.4%			93.1%
ANADARKO BASIN		89.0%	92.9%			93.3%
EAST/N. CENTRAL		93.6%	91.7%			94.9%
ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC		91.8%	89.6%			95.6%
TOTAL		90.2%	91.5%			94.6%
1996 SURVEY
OFFSHORE GULF			88.5%	92.0%		93.0%
ONSHORE GULF			92.6%	94.8%		95.7%
PERMIAN BASIN			92.4%	94.8%		95.2%
SAN JUAN BASIN			96.1%	95.7%		95.3%
ANADARKO BASIN			95.0%	94.3%		94.8%
EAST/N. CENTRAL			94.0%	95.2%		95.7%
ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC			89.4%	91.1%		96.7%
TOTAL			91.1%	93.3%		94.6%
1997 SURVEY (PRELIMINARY SURVEY RESULTS)
OFFSHORE GULF				92.2%	95.1%	96.8%
ONSHORE GULF				96.3%	95.0%	96.8%
PERMIAN BASIN				96.7%	97.3%	96.4%
SAN JUAN BASIN				95.9%	97.1%	96.3%
ANADARKO BASIN				95.7%	96.1%	96.1%
EAST/N. CENTRAL				95.6%	92.3%	96.0%
ROCKY MTN/PACIFIC				90.9%	92.3%	96.3%
TOTAL				94.1%	95.1%	96.6%

The Natural Gas Supply Association represents producers and marketers of domestic natural gas.

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This page was last updated August 31, 1997.