By David Bird NEW YORK–U.S. natural-gas output in the Lower 48 states climbed 0.3% in August from an upwardly revised July level to a record high of 74.82 billion cubic feet per day, preliminary government figures released Thursday show. The Energy Information Administration data show August output was up 3.1% from a year earlier. That is the largest year-on-year growth for any month since output rose by 5% on this basis in September 2012. The EIA revised July output up to 74.62 billion cubic feet per day from the preliminary level of 74.52 billion cubic feet per day reported a month earlier. The biggest rise in output in August came from what EIA refers to as “other states,” or those outside the traditional producing areas of Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Output from this region rose 2.4%, or 0.64 billion cubic feet per day, as new wells […]