Australia's Gorgon, one of the world's largest LNG terminals, ships first cargo

Australia's Gorgon project, one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the world, shipped its first cargo last week to Japan. Located on Barrow Island off the coast of northwestern Australia, the project includes a domestic natural gas plant, a carbon dioxide injection project, and an LNG export facility. Its three liquefaction units, also known as trains, have a combined capacity of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). More »

EIA report shows decline in cost of U.S. oil and gas wells since 2012

The profitability of oil and natural gas development activity depends on both the prices realized by producers and the cost and productivity of newly developed wells. Overall trends in well development costs are generally less transparent than price and productivity trends, which are readily observable in the markets or through analyses of well productivity trends such as EIA's monthly Drilling Productivity Report. More »

U.S. production of hydrocarbon gas liquids expected to increase through 2017

U.S. production of hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL)—a group of products including ethane, propane, butanes, and natural gasoline—is expected to increase from 3.86 million barrels per day in 2015 to 4.33 million b/d in 2017, according to EIA's "Short-Term Energy Outlook". HGLs are produced at both natural gas processing plants and petroleum refineries, but natural gas plants are expected to provide more than 95% of forecast production growth. More »

United Kingdom increases oil production in 2015, but new field development declines

After many years of decline, production of petroleum and other liquids in the United Kingdom (U.K.) increased by about 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2015. The largest contribution to this increase came from fields that were brought online in the second half of 2014. Significant increases also came from fields that came online in 2015, and from improved performance of the U.K.'s largest producing field, the offshore Buzzard field. More »

U.S. petroleum product exports continue to increase

Total U.S. petroleum product exports continued to increase in 2015, up 467,000 barrels per day (b/d) from 2014 to 4.3 million b/d, driven by increased exports of distillate fuel, motor gasoline, and propane. Mexico and countries in Central and South America continue to be major recipients of U.S. petroleum product exports. More »

EIA reviews and enhances data and projections for wind and solar electricity

EIA's data and projections for renewable electricity, in particular wind and solar generators, are a major topic of interest for many EIA customers. In an effort to assure that data are accurate and comprehensive, and that projections are useful for policy analysis, EIA regularly reviews its data and projections, as well as current and projected costs for wind and solar technologies. More »

Wind adds the most electric generation capacity in 2015, followed by natural gas and solar

Wind, natural gas, and solar made up almost all new electric generation capacity in 2015, accounting for 41%, 30%, and 26% of total additions, respectively, according to preliminary data. The data also show a record amount of distributed solar photovoltaic capacity was added on rooftops throughout the country in 2015. The trend of wind, natural gas, and solar additions making up most new capacity is likely to continue in 2016. More »

Wells drilled since start of 2014 provided nearly half of Lower 48 oil production in 2015

U.S. crude oil production from the Lower 48 states from new wells (drilled since the start of 2014) made up 48% of total U.S. crude oil production in 2015, up from 22% in 2007. Production from new wells has grown as advances in horizontal drilling and completion techniques led to growth in oil production from low-permeability tight reservoirs. More »

As coal stockpiles at power plants rise, shippers are reducing coal railcar loadings

Coal stockpiles at electric generating facilities totaled 197 million tons at the end of 2015, the highest level since June 2012 and the highest year-end inventories in at least 25 years. More than 40 million tons of coal were added to stockpiles at electric generating facilities from September-December, the largest build during that timespan in at least 15 years. In addition to relatively low overall electricity generation, coal-fired electricity has recently been losing market share to natural gas and renewable generation. More »

Demand trends, prices, and policies drive recent electric generation capacity additions

The combination of slower electricity demand growth, low natural gas prices, and policies that encourage renewables-sourced electricity generation is changing the type and the amount of generating capacity added each year. More »

High production, low prices mean little change in natural gas storage capacity

High levels of natural gas production and relatively low natural gas prices are affecting markets for seasonal natural gas storage, including the value of additional storage capacity. For the second year in a row, no new natural gas storage facilities were added, and the slight changes, both positive and negative, at existing storage fields caused national storage capacity to remain essentially flat for the year. More »

Natural gas expected to surpass coal in mix of fuel used for U.S. power generation in 2016

For decades, coal has been the dominant energy source for generating electricity in the United States. EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook is now forecasting that 2016 will be the first year that natural gas-fired generation exceeds coal generation in the United States on an annual basis. Natural gas generation first surpassed coal generation on a monthly basis in April 2015, and the generation shares for coal and natural gas were nearly identical in 2015, each providing about one-third of all electricity generation. More »

Hydraulic fracturing accounts for about half of current U.S. crude oil production

Even though hydraulic fracturing has been in use for more than six decades, it has only recently been used to produce a significant portion of crude oil in the United States. This technique, often used in combination with horizontal drilling, has allowed the United States to increase its oil production faster than at any time in its history. Based on the most recent available data from states, EIA estimates that oil production from hydraulically fractured wells now makes up about half of total U.S. crude oil production. More »

Total electricity sales fell in 2015 for 5th time in past 8 years

Total electricity sales in 2015 fell 1.1% from the previous year, marking the fifth time in the past eight years that electricity sales have fallen. The flattening of total electricity sales reflects declining sales in the industrial sector and little or no growth in sales to the residential and commercial building sectors, despite growth in the number of households and growth in commercial building space. More »

Crude oil shipments by rail from Midwest to coastal regions decline

The movement of crude by rail within the United States, including within Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts, reached a high of 928,000 barrels per day (b/d) in October 2014, with most of the shipments originating in the Midwest and going to the East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf Coast regions. Since October 2015, crude-by-rail volumes have declined as production has slowed, as crude oil price spreads have narrowed, and as more pipelines have come online. More »

U.S. ethanol exports reach highest level since 2011

U.S. exports of fuel ethanol reached their highest level in four years in 2015, totaling 844 million gallons, a slight increase from 2014 and second only to the 1.2 billion gallons exported during 2011. U.S. imports of ethanol, which totaled 73 million gallons in 2014, also increased in 2015, reaching a total of 92 million gallons. The United States remained a net exporter of fuel ethanol for the sixth consecutive year and exported the fuel to 35 different countries in 2015. More »

U.S. oil production continues to decline, and is now below its year-ago level

U.S. monthly crude oil production in December 2015 continued to decline, as oil production reached its lowest level since November 2014. Production also declined from year-ago levels for the first time in more than four years. This continued production decline is the result of lower crude prices, which have declined more than 70% since the summer of 2014. More »

Coal made up more than 80% of retired electricity generating capacity in 2015

Nearly 18 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity was retired in 2015, a relatively high amount compared with recent years. More than 80% of the retired capacity was conventional steam coal. The coal-fired generating units retired in 2015 tended to be older and smaller in capacity than the coal generation fleet that continues to operate. More »

U.S. coal exports declined 23% in 2015, as coal imports remained steady

The United States remains a net exporter of coal, exporting 74.0 million short tons (MMst) and importing 11 MMst in 2015. Coal exports fell for the third consecutive year in 2015, ending the year 23 MMst lower than in 2014 and more than 50 MMst less than the record volume of coal exported in 2012. Slower growth in world coal demand, lower international coal prices, and higher coal output in other coal-exporting countries contributed to the decline in U.S. coal exports. More »

Growth in domestic natural gas production leads to development of LNG export terminals

The first export shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in the Lower 48 states on February 24 is a milestone reflecting a decade of natural gas production growth that has put the United States in a new position in worldwide energy trade. More »

Crescent Dunes concentrating solar plant begins producing electricity

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy, a 110 megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power (CSP) electricity plant, began full operation in February, according to its press release. Crescent Dunes uses an energy storage system that developers expect will be able to store enough thermal energy to generate electricity for up to 10 hours after sunset or on cloudy days when direct sunlight is unavailable. More »

California wholesale gasoline price falls before switch to summer-grade gasoline

The spot price of wholesale gasoline in Los Angeles fell as low as 66¢/gal on February 18, the lowest spot gasoline price in the nation and something that has only occurred on 24 days in the past 10 years. From February 12 to February 23, the Los Angeles spot price for California reformulated oxygenate blendstock (CARBOB) remained the lowest in the nation. On February 23, the specification for CARBOB switched to summer-grade gasoline, which resulted in a one-day price increase of 57%. More »

Solar, natural gas, wind make up most 2016 generation additions

Electric generating facilities expect to add more than 26 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale generating capacity to the power grid during 2016. Most of these additions come from three resources: solar (9.5 GW), natural gas (8.0 GW), and wind (6.8 GW), which together make up 93% of total additions. If actual additions ultimately reflect these plans, 2016 will be the first year in which utility-scale solar additions exceed additions from any other single energy source. More »

Iraq is second-leading contributor to global liquids supply growth in 2015

Iraq was the second-leading contributor to the growth in global oil supply in 2015, behind only the United States. Crude oil production in Iraq, including fields in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, averaged 4.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015, almost 700,000 b/d above the 2014 level. Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and accounted for about 75% of total OPEC production growth in 2015. More »