Today in Energy release notice

For the next two weeks (December 21–January 1), Today in Energy will feature a selection of our favorite articles from 2015. New stories will resume on January 4, 2016. More »

Effects of removing U.S. crude export restrictions depend on price, resource assumptions

A new study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on the potential implications of allowing more crude oil exports finds that effects on domestic crude oil production are key to determining the other effects of a policy change. More »

EIA's newly designed coal web pages provides easier access to coal data

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) redesigned the weekly Coal Production report and combined two price reports into a single Coal Markets product to improve access to EIA's coal data. Users can now access weekly coal production and prices and new monthly export data from a single place. More »

Utility-scale solar in South Atlantic region dominated by North Carolina, Georgia

Most of the utility-scale solar PV electric generating capacity has been installed in the southwestern part of the country in states such as California and Arizona, which together accounted for 64% of the national total as of September 2015. The South Atlantic region has about 11% of the nation's 9,968 MW of utility-scale PV capacity, largely in North Carolina. Until now, Georgia has installed relatively little solar PV capacity, but the state plans to add more than 750 MW of utility-scale solar by the end of 2016. More »

Independent energy assessments confirm quality of EIA's commercial buildings data

Independent energy assessments of a subset of the buildings surveyed in EIA's Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey have confirmed the quality of data gathered by interviewers. For instance, 65% of the square footage values collected by the interviewers agreed within +/- 10% with the square footage data collected by professional energy assessors. More »

New database provides monthly inventory and status of U.S. electric generating plants

EIA's recently introduced Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory consolidates currently available information on electric generators into a single product. This new database will enable users to identify monthly changes in generator status and to track units that are being added or retired from the generating fleet. More »

Four countries added to global shale oil and natural gas resource assessment

EIA continues to expand its assessment of technically recoverable shale oil and shale gas resources around the world. The addition of four countries—Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—to a previous assessment covering 42 countries has resulted in a 13% increase in the global assessed total resource estimate for shale oil and a 4% increase for shale gas. More »

Mexican crude oil shipments to Europe and Asia are rising as U.S. imports fall

In September 2015, monthly U.S. crude oil imports from Mexico totaled 0.6 million barrels per day (b/d), the lowest level since 1990, and a decrease of about 50% since January 2011. Meanwhile, Mexico's exports of heavy crude oil to Asia and light crude oil to Europe rose, according to data from Mexico's national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos. More »

Heating oil and propane prices are lower this winter

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's State Heating Oil and Propane Program (SHOPP) collects state-level residential heating oil and propane price data in 38 states during the winter heating season. SHOPP is a joint effort between EIA and state energy offices in regions (especially states in the Northeast and Midwest) where heating oil and propane are commonly used as heating fuels. In all of the states surveyed, propane and heating oil prices are lower than they were at this time last year, and EIA expects prices will remain at lower levels throughout the winter. More »

New legislation affects U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Two recently enacted laws authorize significant sales of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next decade. The Bipartisan Budget Act authorizes the sale of 58 million barrels of SPR oil between FY 2018-2025 for deficit reduction purposes and an estimated 40-50 million barrels of oil in FY 2017-2020 for SPR modernization. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act authorizes the sale of 66 million barrels of oil in FY 2023-25 to help support the Highway Trust Fund. More »

Updated EIA survey provides data on spent nuclear fuel in the United States

The U.S Energy Information Administration recently released data from its Nuclear Fuel Data Survey on the amount, type, and characteristics of spent nuclear fuel once it is discharged from a reactor. As nuclear electricity generation has continued to increase, the inventory of discharged spent fuel from nuclear reactors has grown steadily since the 1970s. More »

Energy use by federal agencies continues to decline

According to the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), energy consumption by the U.S. federal government fell to 0.94 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in fiscal year (FY) 2014, the lowest level since data collection began in FY 1975. Declines in jet fuel consumption by the U.S. Department of Defense accounted for most of the decrease in federal energy use. Several data series on federal government energy use now appear in EIA's Monthly Energy Review. More »

Crude oil storage and capacity have increased in Cushing, Oklahoma and U.S. Gulf Coast

Commercial crude oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma (located in PADD 2) and the U.S. Gulf Coast (PADD 3) totaled a record-high 309.4 million barrels as of the week ending November 27. Based on the recently released storage capacity and line fill data in the September Petroleum Supply Monthly, EIA estimates 70.2% utilization of working crude oil storage capacity in Cushing and the Gulf Coast on a combined basis, only slightly below the record utilization level of 71.2% set the week ending April 24 this year. More »

EIA electricity data now include estimated small-scale solar PV capacity and generation

Small-scale distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, such as those found on residential and commercial rooftops, have grown significantly in the United States over the past several years. Starting this month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is including monthly estimates of small-scale distributed solar PV capacity and generation by state and sector in EIA's Electric Power Monthly. More »

EIA expands monthly reporting of crude oil production with new data on API gravity

New data released yesterday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that for the first nine months of 2015, most (50.8%) of the crude oil produced in the Lower 48 states were light oils with an API gravity above 40 degrees. The largest share of production was in the 40.1 to 45 degree API gravity range. More »