The Energy Information Administration's Short-Term Energy Outlook for August 2012 is out. Regarding production, it observes: "Total marketed production of natural gas grew by 4.8 Bcf/d (7.9 percent) in 2011. This strong growth was driven in large part by increases in shale gas production. EIA expects continued year-over-year growth in 2012 of 2.5 Bcf/d. EIA, however, expects a small drop in production in the coming months, reflecting both expected losses from hurricanes (2012 Outlook for Hurricane-Related Production Outages in the Gulf of Mexico) and declines related to recent drops in the rig count. According to Baker Hughes, the natural gas rig count was 498 as of August 3, 2012, compared with 811 at the start of 2012."
And another interesting chart:
