The U.S. proved natural gas reserves increased by 10 percent in 2013 to reach a new country record, the U.S. Information Administration said.
The proved natural gas reserves increased by 877.8 billion cubic meters (31 trillion cubic feet) last year in the U.S. and reached a total of 10 trillion cubic meters (354 trillion cubic feet), the Administration's data published in 'U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves 2013' showed.
According to BP World Statistical Review 2014, the U.S. has the fifth largest proved natural gas reserves by country, after Russia, Iran, Qatar and Turkmenistan respectively.
The Administration reports that by state level, Pennsylvania and West Virginia reported the largest increases with 70 percent of the net increase, thanks to the Marcellus Shale gas play which is estimated to hold some four trillion cubic meters (141 trillion cubic feet) of technically recoverable gas.
Alaska saw the biggest decline in 2013 because of deteriorating oil well performance in certain oil fields, the administration said.
By Nihan Cabbaroglu
Anadolu Agency
nihan.cabbaroglu@aa.com.tr