Production decline
California produced about 500,000 cubic feet of natural gas in the 1980s. It has steadily been declining in production. It dropped to less than 200,000 cubic feet in 2018 and was 133,136 cubic feet in 2021, which was about 7% of the state’s consumption needs.
Natural gas pipelines in the West
The U.S. natural gas pipeline network is a highly integrated network that moves natural gas throughout the continental United States. The pipeline network has about 3 million miles of mainline and other pipelines that link natural gas production areas and storage facilities with consumers.
In 2021, this natural gas transportation network delivered about 27.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to about 77.7 million consumers.
California Electricity by Fuel Type
In 2021, natural gas was used to produce half the state’s electricity.
The information in the chart below is from the California Energy Commission. It is compiled from power plant data reporting and is based on metering at each power plant site and, therefore, does not account for the 7-8% loss attributed to transmission for delivery to the customer’s meter.
The Electricity supply trend for March 3, 2023 shown as megawatts , by resource, in 5 minute increments
