By Naser Ameen And Troy Cook
The Permian region’s marketed natural gas production grew from 17.2 bcf/d (487.04 x 106 m3/d) in 2021 to 27.6 bcf/d (781.5 x 106 m3/d) in 2025, a 60% increase, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) latest Short Term Energy Outlook. Over the same period, crude oil production grew by 39%, going from 4.7 million barrels per day to 6.6 million barrels per day. The higher growth in natural gas production is the result of increasing gas-oil ratios (GOR).
As more oil and natural gas are produced, pressure within the reservoir declines; natural gas is easier to produce at lower pressures and the GOR increases.
The GOR in the Permian region has steadily increased over the past five years. In 2025, the GOR averaged nearly 4200 cubic feet of natural gas per barrel of oil (cf/b), a 16% increase from 2021. As the region matures, the EIA expects the GOR to continue to increase. As the GOR rises, the EIA estimates that the production growth rate of natural gas will continue to exceed the growth rate of crude oil in the Permian region.
Note: GOR is the gas-oil ratio, measured in cubic feet of natural gas per barrel of crude oil produced.
In 2021, the Permian produced 17.3 bcf/d (489.8 x 106 m3/d) of natural gas and 4.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, and the GOR averaged 3628 cf/b. If the GOR had remained the same as in 2021, the Permian region would have produced only 23.8 bcf/d (673.9 x 106 m3/d) of natural gas in 2025, 14% less than actual production that year. The extra 3.8 bcf/d (107.6 x 106 m3/d) of gas in 2025 comes because of this higher GOR.
About The Authors
Naser Ameen and Troy Cook are research analysts with the US Energy Information Administration
