 Production from the basin peaked in 2001 at around per day and was predicted in 2003, by the National Energy Board to be likely to decline from that level.The overall decline rate increased from 13 percent per year in 1992 to 23 percent in 2002, which means of production must be replaced each year just to keep production constant.With the basin being largely explored and operators finding less gas with each new well, this seems improbable.