EIA improves monthly reporting of crude oil production

With the planned release of the Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) later today, EIA is incorporating the first survey-based reporting of monthly crude oil production based on an expansion of its survey program earlier this year. Today's PSM includes EIA's first reporting of June crude oil production. EIA also begins using new survey data from multiple states and regions within the United States, and revises figures previously reported for January through May 2015. More »

Reduced offshore share in U.S. oil and natural gas production lowers risk from hurricanes

The domestic market for distributed wind turbines has weakened since the record capacity additions in 2012. Last year's installations of mid-size and small wind turbines were the lowest in a decade. Relatively low electricity prices, competition from other distributed energy sources, and relatively high permitting and other nonmaterial costs have presented challenges to the distributed wind market in the United States. More »

Domestic market for distributed wind turbines faces several challenges

The domestic market for distributed wind turbines has weakened since the record capacity additions in 2012. Last year's installations of mid-size and small wind turbines were the lowest in a decade. Relatively low electricity prices, competition from other distributed energy sources, and relatively high permitting and other nonmaterial costs have presented challenges to the distributed wind market in the United States. More »

EIA expects near-term decline in natural gas production in major shale regions

Natural gas production across all major shale regions in EIA's Drilling Productivity Report is projected to decrease for the first time in September. Production from these seven shale regions reached a high in May at 45.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) and is expected to decline to 44.9 Bcf/d in September. In each region, production from new wells is not large enough to offset production declines from existing, legacy wells. More »

India's coal industry in flux as government sets ambitious coal production targets

Coal consumption in India, particularly in the electric power sector, is outpacing India's domestic production. From 2005 to 2012, India's coal production grew by only 4.7% per year to about 600 million metric tons while the country's coal-fired electric power capacity grew by a much faster rate, reaching 150 gigawatts. To help resolve the shortfall in coal supply, India has set a coal production target of 1.5 billion metric tons by 2020. More »

Growing global liquids inventories reflect lower crude oil prices

Continued growth in global production of petroleum and other liquids has outpaced consumption growth since August 2014, resulting in rising global liquids stocks. Total global liquids inventories are estimated to have grown by 2.3 million barrels per day through the first seven months of 2015, the highest level of inventory builds through July of any year since 1998, putting significant downward pressure on near-term crude oil prices. More »

Major fossil fuel-producing states rely heavily on severance taxes

Several states that produce large amounts of fossil fuels rely heavily on severance tax revenue—taxes based on the volume and/or value of oil, natural gas, coal, and other natural resources. On average, severance taxes accounted for less than 2% of state tax collections in 2014, but in three states—Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming—severance taxes provided a much larger share of total state tax revenue in that year. More »

Australia shifts investment from wind projects to other renewable sources

Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) last month was directed to stop investing in future wind power projects. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated that CEFC should be investing in the development of new technologies rather than in technologies that are currently established, such as large-scale wind farms. More »

EIA lowers crude oil price forecast through 2016

Amid high uncertainty in the global oil market, EIA has lowered crude oil price forecasts, expecting West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices to average $49 per barrel (b) in 2015 and $54/b in 2016, $6/b and $8/b lower than forecast in last month's STEO, respectively. Concerns over the pace of economic growth in emerging markets, continuing (albeit slowing) supply growth, increases in global liquids inventories, and the possibility of increasing volumes of Iranian crude oil on the market contributed to the changed forecast. More »

Unplanned refinery outage leads to higher Midwest gasoline prices

On August 8, the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, the largest petroleum refinery in the Midwest, experienced an unplanned outage and was forced to reduce production. The BP Whiting refinery has a crude oil distillation unit (CDU) capacity of 413,500 barrels per calendar day (b/d), and it is an important source of gasoline and distillate fuel oil supply to the region. More »

Texas electric grid serves record-high power demand

During the recent heat wave in Texas, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the operator of the electric grid covering most of the state, set a new record for electricity use when demand for electricity reached 69.8 gigawatts (GW) between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on August 10. ERCOT has been able to handle this extremely high demand without any system emergencies. More »

First offshore wind farm in the United States begins construction

In July, American offshore wind developer, Deepwater Wind, installed the first foundation for what is expected to be the first offshore wind farm in the United States. The project will be located three miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island. More »

Nuclear accord creates potential for additional crude oil production from Iran

On July 14, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany) and Iran announced an agreement that could result in relief from United States and European Union nuclear-related sanctions (which include some oil-related sanctions). If the agreement is implemented and sanctions relief occurs, it will put additional Iranian oil supplies on a global market that has already seen oil inventories rise significantly over the past year. More »

Japan restarts first nuclear reactor under new safety rules

On August 11, Kyushu Electric Power Company's 846 megawatt Sendai Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 became the first reactor to restart after nearly two years with no generation from nuclear power plants in Japan. Following the disaster at Fukushima in 2011, Japan began a temporary shutdown of all nuclear plants as each reactor entered scheduled maintenance and refueling outages. Following its restart, Sendai Unit 1 will begin generating electricity within days and return to normal operation in early September. More »

West Coast wind patterns lead to below-normal wind generation capacity factors

A drop in average wind speeds in the western United States during early 2015 led to reduced generation from wind plants in California, Oregon, and Washington. As a result, wind plant utilization rates, also known as plant capacity factors, were consistently below the previous five-year average during the first five months of 2015, according to the latest data available. More »

Rail helps make Midwest a net shipper of crude oil

Shipments of crude oil out of the Midwest region to other U.S. regions have steadily increased as a result of pipeline reversals and rail transport. Rail movements out of the Midwest contributed to the region becoming a net shipper of crude oil. Without these rail movements, the Midwest region would still be a net recipient. More »

U.S. refineries are running at record high levels

Gross inputs to U.S. refineries exceeded 17 million barrels per day (b/d) in each of the past four weeks, a level not previously reached since EIA began publishing weekly data in 1990. The rolling four-week average of U.S. gross refinery inputs has been above the previous five-year range (2010-14) every week so far this year. The record high gross inputs reflect both higher refinery capacity and higher utilization rates. More »

Russia is world's largest producer of crude oil and lease condensate

Russia is the world's largest producer of crude oil (including lease condensate) and the second-largest producer of dry natural gas, after the United States. Hydrocarbons play a large role in the Russian economy, as revenue from oil and natural gas production and exports accounts for more than half of Russia's federal budget revenue. However, recent international sanctions on Russia, coupled with low oil prices, have put pressure on the Russian economy. More »

Monthly power sector carbon dioxide emissions reach 27-year low in April

The electric power sector emitted 128 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MMmt CO2) in April 2015, the lowest for any month since April 1988, according to the most recent estimates in EIA's Monthly Energy Review. More »

Algeria is reforming its laws to attract foreign investment in hydrocarbons

Algeria is the third-largest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria and Angola, and the largest natural gas producer in Africa. However, production of both oil and natural gas has declined over the past decade. This declining production has led the Algerian government to amend its law regarding foreign investment in hydrocarbons in an attempt to attract the investment and technology improvements needed to help stop production declines. More »

Coal, nuclear, and renewables expected to boost Vietnam's electricity capacity

Vietnam is poised to significantly transform its electrical power generation mix over the next two decades as it modernizes the country's agrarian economy to become a more industrialized nation. To accommodate greater industrial expansion and to support energy security goals, Vietnam is significantly increasing its total electricity generating capacity. As part of its capacity expansion, Vietnam plans to add substantial coal-fired capacity and also plans to build the first nuclear reactors in Southeast Asia and the first offshore wind farm in Asia. More »