Texas Produces More Natural Gas Than Iran. Pennsylvania Beats Canada
• Science
Key Takeaways
- Texas produced 10,054 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas in 2024, more than any country except the US and Russia.
- Pennsylvania produced 7,299 Bcf of natural gas, exceeding the production of major gas-producing countries like Canada and Qatar.
- Just five states accounted for 72.6% of US natural gas production in 2024. Texas and Pennsylvania alone contributed 46%.
In 2024, Texas produced more natural gas than Iran, while Pennsylvania outproduced Canada and Qatar.
And the US isn't slowing down. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), American natural gas production reached another record in July 2026, rising 5.3% from a year earlier.
Texas beats Iran, but the margin is small
Texas produced 10,054 Bcf of natural gas in 2024, compared with Iran's 9,853 Bcf. That's a difference of 201 Bcf, or about 2%.
The state also produced roughly 10% more natural gas than China, the world's fourth-largest producer among countries that year.
Pennsylvania's position is equally striking. An annual production of 7,299 Bcf makes it ahead of Canada (7,026 Bcf) and Qatar (6,002 Bcf), two countries with major natural gas industries.
But Texas and Pennsylvania aren't the only states capable of competing with entire nations.
In 2024, Louisiana produced more natural gas than Algeria. Similarly, New Mexico and West Virginia each produced more than Malaysia. Oklahoma narrowly exceeded Indonesia.
Top 10 natural gas producers worldwide, including US states (2024)
| Rank | Country / US State | Natural Gas Production (Bcf) |
| 1 | United States | 37,7667 |
| 2 | Russia | 22,674 |
| 3 | Texas (US state) | 10,054 |
| 4 | Iran | 9,853 |
| 5 | China | 9,127 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania (US state) | 7,299 |
| 7 | Canada | 7,026 |
| 8 | Qatar | 6,002 |
| 9 | Australia | 5,374 |
| 10 | Norway | 4,623 |
Note: Figures represent dry natural gas production in 2024, measured in billion cubic feet (Bcf). US states are ranked alongside countries for comparison. Their production is already included in the US national total.
Five states produce nearly three-quarters of America's natural gas
In 2024, the US produced approximately 37.7 trillion cubic feet of dry natural gas. Of this total, Texas alone accounted for 26.7%, and Pennsylvania contributed another 19.3%.
Once we add Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia, the five states accounted for 72.6% of all US production.
Just five states accounted for 72.6% of US natural gas production in 2024. Texas and Pennsylvania alone contributed 46%. Source: EIA.
This concentration is largely explained by geology. Some of North America's most productive natural gas formations lie beneath these states.
But the gas hasn't suddenly appeared underground. What changed was the technology used to extract it.
How shale turned US states into global gas giants
Much of today's US natural gas comes from shale. It is a type of rock that can trap gas in tiny spaces underground.
For decades, it was difficult to extract substantial quantities from these formations. This changed around 2000, when producers in Texas's Barnett Shale demonstrated that gas could be recovered commercially using hydraulic fracturing.
Combined with horizontal drilling, which allows wells to travel sideways through gas-bearing rock, the technology opened up formations that had previously been difficult to develop.
Different regions now play different roles:
- Texas and New Mexico: The Permian Basin produces enormous amounts of natural gas alongside crude oil. As companies drill for oil, natural gas frequently comes up with it.
- Pennsylvania and West Virginia: The Marcellus and Utica formations beneath the Appalachian region are major sources of shale gas.
- Louisiana and eastern Texas: The Haynesville Shale is another important gas-producing formation, located close to Gulf Coast pipelines and export facilities.
The result is a natural gas industry whose scale would have been difficult to imagine before the shale boom.
And US natural gas production is still breaking records
The ranking above uses 2024 production, the latest complete year available for state and international comparisons. More recent figures show that US output has continued climbing.
In July 2026, the US produced 5.3% more natural gas than a year earlier, reaching its highest level since records began in 1973.
New wells in Texas and New Mexico helped drive the record. The Permian Basin is also producing more natural gas relative to oil, while new pipelines are making it easier to move that gas out of the region.
Drilling technology continues to evolve, too. By 2025, 15% of newly completed horizontal wells in the Permian stretched more than 15,000 feet underground. Such long wells were virtually nonexistent before 2020.
For Texas, that means producers can access more underground rock from individual wells, helping explain how a single US state can compete with some of the world's largest natural gas-producing countries.
Sources and methodology
We used 2024 natural gas production data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and its international database to compare US states with countries worldwide.
All figures measure natural gas production in billion cubic feet. The ranking includes the US as a whole, so production from individual states is also counted in the US total. Small differences between EIA datasets do not affect the findings.
The July 2026 figures are preliminary and come from EIA's September 2026 report.
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