Adds comments from EIA

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas output will rise to a record high in 2026, while demand will decline, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday.

EIA projected dry gas production will rise from a record 107.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025 to 110.6 bcfd in 2026 and 115.0 bcfd in 2027.

The agency also projected domestic gas consumption will fall from a record 91.9 bcfd in 2025 to 91.2 bcfd in 2026 before rising to 94.4 bcfd in 2027.

The May projections for 2026 were higher than the EIA's forecast in April of 109.6 bcfd for production and 90.6 bcfd for demand.

"We expect production to keep rising through 2027, with associated natural gas output increasing as higher crude oil prices support more crude oil production," the EIA said.

Gas production growth this year is driven primarily by 6% growth both in the Permian and Haynesville regions, including rising gas-to-oil ratios from many wells in the Permian region, EIA said.

The Permian, the nation's biggest oil-producing shale basin, is located in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, and the Haynesville is located in eastern Texas and northwest Louisiana.

The agency forecast average U.S. liquefied natural gas exports would rise from a record 15.1 bcfd in 2025 to 17.0 bcfd in 2026 and 18.2 bcfd in 2027.

With power generators expected to burn less coal in coming years, the EIA projected U.S. coal production would drop from a two-year high of 528.4 million short tons in 2025 to 518.6 million tons in 2026 and 487.1 million tons in 2027, the lowest since 1963.

EIA projected carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels would decline from a three-year high of 4.905 billion metric tons in 2025 to 4.797 billion metric tons in 2026 as oil, coal and gas use decrease, before edging up to 4.820 billion metric tons in 2027 as gas use increases.