America's Biggest Shale Gas Field Is Choking on Its Own Supply

  • New pipeline capacity isn't keeping up with production
  • Marcellus gas production may fall 1.3 percent in November

Marcellus shale oil production in Bradford County, Penn.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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For the first time since America’s shale boom began, the flow of natural gas from the nation’s biggest reservoir is close to dropping below year-ago levels.

Output from the Marcellus basin in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is faltering as pipeline capacity fails to keep up with the surge in production. While space on Appalachian pipelines has more than doubled this year, it hasn’t been enough to keep the flow moving freely, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.