Mexico publishes first monthly natural gas price index after moving to competitive market

Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) released their first monthly price report on August 18, 2017. As part of its ongoing series of energy reforms that reduce government market controls, the Mexican government converted to a liberalized natural gas market on July 1, 2017. More »

Appalachian natural gas processing capacity key to increasing natural gas, NGPL production

Natural gas processing capacity in the Appalachian region has grown dramatically over the past several years as producers try to keep pace with increasing natural gas production in the region. Natural gas processing plays a key role in the natural gas supply chain. More »

Crude oil and natural gas production in Texas and Oklahoma's Anadarko Region is growing

The Anadarko Region, which was recently added to EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), accounted for 437,000 barrels per day (b/d) of oil production and 4.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas production in July 2017. Production in the region has increased in 2017, and the region accounted for 13% of all new wells drilled in the country in July 2017. More »

Hurricane Harvey headed for area with significant oil, natural gas infrastructure

Hurricane Harvey strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday afternoon and is currently forecast to make landfall over southeast Texas later today or early Saturday. More »

California increased electricity imports and natural gas generation during solar eclipse

During the solar eclipse that passed across the continental United States on August 21, 2017, solar output on the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) electric system dropped while the sun was partially obscured. More »

Northwest heat wave leads to record levels of summer electricity demand

Multiple record-breaking heat waves swept across the western United States this summer, with the latest occurring in the Pacific Northwest on August 1-4, 2017. Coincident with the hot weather, some of the largest electricity balancing authorities in the area experienced record high summer electricity demand on their systems. More »

Mexico’s shale-rich Burgos Basin opens to private investment for the first time

In July 2017, Mexico’s national energy ministry (SENER) opened the onshore portion of the Burgos Basin, a shale-rich basin in northeastern Mexico, for natural gas exploration and development by private companies. This is the first time non-state entities were offered access to the Burgos Basin for development since the creation of the national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) in 1938. More »

Natural gas-fired electricity conversion efficiency grows as coal remains stable

From 2006 to 2015, annual average heat rates of natural gas-fired electricity generators decreased 7% as heat rates of coal-fired electricity generators remained stable, increasing only 1%. Heat rates are calculated based on the amount of energy (measured in British thermal units) reported to EIA that was used to generate a unit of electricity. More »

The Danish and Turkish Straits are critical to Europe’s crude oil and petroleum trade

The Danish Straits and Turkish Straits, together transited by a combined volume of more than 5 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2016, are important chokepoints for Europe’s crude oil and petroleum liquids supply. Nearly 59 million b/d of global petroleum and other liquids production moved on maritime routes in 2015. More »

U.S. gasoline production is running near record levels

Gasoline production by U.S. refiners and blenders has run near record levels over the first seven months of 2017, with four-week rolling average production well above its five-year average and close to the top of its five-year range. U.S. gasoline inventories also remain relatively high despite growing domestic and foreign demand, leading to draws from gasoline inventories in each of the past seven weeks. More »

Natural gas pipeline projects lead to smaller price discounts in Appalachian region

As new pipeline projects and expansions are completed, the difference between the Henry Hub national benchmark price and daily spot natural gas prices at pricing hubs in the Appalachian region has narrowed. More »

EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report adds Anadarko region, aggregates Marcellus and Utica

To provide more complete coverage of U.S. crude oil and natural gas production, EIA is expanding the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) to cover the Anadarko region, which covers most of the production from the Anadarko Basin in 24 counties in Oklahoma and 5 counties in Texas More »

South Carolina utilities stop construction of new nuclear reactors

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation, and South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) announced on July 31 that they are halting construction of two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant. More »

The Strait of Malacca, a key oil trade chokepoint, links the Indian and Pacific Oceans

Nearly one-third of the 61% of total global petroleum and other liquids production that moved on maritime routes in 2015 transited the Strait of Malacca, the second-largest oil trade chokepoint in the world after the Strait of Hormuz. More »

Total U.S. energy expenditures in 2015 were the lowest in more than a decade

Expenditures for delivered energy in the United States in 2015 totaled $1.127 trillion, a 20% decrease in real terms from 2014, according to recently released data from EIA's State Energy Data System. Adjusted for inflation, total energy expenditures in 2015 were the lowest since 2004. More »

United States expected to become a net exporter of natural gas this year

EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook projects that the United States will export more natural gas than it imports in 2017. The United States has been a net exporter for three of the past four months, and is expected to continue to export more natural gas than it imports for the rest of 2017 and throughout 2018. More »

In new trend, U.S. natural gas exports exceeded imports in 3 of the first 5 months of 2017

The United States exported more natural gas than it imported in February, April, and May of 2017 according to the latest EIA’s Natural Gas Monthly. The United States has been a net natural gas importer (on an average annual basis) for nearly 60 years. More »

Solar eclipse on August 21 will affect photovoltaic generators across the country

On August 21, a solar eclipse will obscure the sunlight needed to generate electricity at approximately 1,900 utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the United States. More »

Three important oil trade chokepoints are located around the Arabian Peninsula

Nearly 59 million barrels per day (b/d) of global petroleum and other liquids production moved on maritime routes in 2015, or almost 61% of the world total. Many of these products transited the Suez Canal and SUMED Pipeline, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Strait of Hormuz chokepoints around the Arabian Peninsula. More »

Many states have adopted policies to encourage energy efficiency

As of July 2017, thirty states and the District of Columbia have adopted energy efficiency policies-either mandated requirements, voluntary goals, or pilot programs—designed to lower the growth of electricity consumption by using electricity more efficiently. More »

Among states, Texas consumes the most energy, Vermont the least

EIA’s State Energy Data System (SEDS) recently released 2015 data estimates for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The estimates include data on both total energy consumption and energy consumption per capita, which is calculated by dividing total consumption by population. More »

Maritime chokepoints are critical to global energy security

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released its 2017 World Oil Transit Chokepoints report. Chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes for oil transport, with some so narrow that restrictions are placed on the size of the vessel that can navigate through them. More »