Natural gas output from U.S. shale formations is set to fall for a third straight month after the collapse in crude prices forced drillers out of fields that yield both oil and gas. After four years of record supply, natural gas output is showing signs of weakness as producers pull back amid tumbling oil prices. Gas production from the seven largest shale basins will fall 0.6 percent to 45.1 billion cubic feet a day in August from a month earlier, the biggest drop since March 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday in its monthly Drilling Productivity report. EIA estimates have shown supply declines since June. The government’s forecasts signal that the 51 percent collapse in crude oil prices since June 20, 2014, is reverberating in the natural gas market. As drillers shut wells in liquids-rich deposits from North Dakota to Texas, they’re also curtailing gas output from […]