Cold weather results in near-record withdrawals from underground natural gas storage

Significant demand for natural gas in mid-February led to the second-largest reported withdrawal of natural gas from storage in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR). Weekly stocks fell by 338 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the week ending February 19, 2021, nearly three times the average withdrawal for mid-February. A record amount of natural gas, 156 Bcf, was withdrawn during that week in the South Central region, which includes Texas. More »

Texas natural gas production fell by almost half during recent cold snap

During the cold snap that affected much of the central part of the country, U.S. dry natural gas production fell to as low as 69.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) on February 17, a decline of 21%, or down nearly 18.9 Bcf/d from the week ending February 13. Natural gas production in Texas fell almost 45% from 21.3 Bcf/d during the week ending February 13 to a daily low of 11.8 Bcf/d on Wednesday, February 17, according to estimates from IHS Markit. Temperatures in Texas averaged nearly 30 degrees Fahrenheit lower than normal during the week of February 14. More »

Ethanol and biomass-based diesel RIN prices approaching all-time highs

The prices of renewable identification number (RIN) credits—the compliance mechanisms used for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have been steadily rising in recent months and are approaching their highest nominal levels in the history of the program. More »

EIA publishes a ratio of revenues-to-costs to explain power plant additions

A supplemental report to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021) describes how EIA uses a ratio of a power plant's revenue to its cost (or value-cost ratio) as a simple metric to explain the economic competitiveness and, in turn, the types of power plants most likely to be built in EIA's long-term model for the U.S. energy sector. More »

Nuclear, pumped storage, and coal power plants are more likely to have multiple owners

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects data on whether an electric generator is owned by one company or jointly owned by several companies, and for those jointly owned, each owner's share of ownership. In 2019, about 14% of the 1,099 gigawatts (GW) of total operational U.S. electricity generating capacity was jointly owned. Nuclear capacity had the highest percentage of joint ownership at 37%, followed by pumped-storage hydropower at 34% and coal at 29%. These types of power plants tend to be large-scale facilities that are expensive to build, and the technologies come with higher regulatory risks, making joint ownership more attractive by reducing plant ownership risks for each owner. More »

Extreme winter weather is disrupting energy supply and demand, particularly in Texas

Last weekend, a major winter weather system characterized by extreme cold spread across much of the central United States, disrupting energy systems and causing serious health and safety issues, particularly in Texas. At the same time that the cold weather increased energy demand, it also affected energy supply, causing intense and widespread energy market disruptions. Notably, electricity deliveries have been disrupted in the parts of Texas served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) as a result of various issues related to plant operations. More »

Annual U.S. liquefied natural gas exports forecast to exceed pipeline exports in 2022

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) February 2021 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will exceed natural gas exports by pipeline in the first and fourth quarters of 2021 and on an annual basis in 2022. Monthly U.S. LNG exports exceeded natural gas exports by pipeline by nearly 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in November 2020, according to EIA's Natural Gas Monthly. LNG exports have only exceeded natural gas exports by pipeline once since 1998—in April 2020—by 0.01 Bcf/d. More »

EIA forecasts the U.S. will import more petroleum than it exports in 2021 and 2022

Throughout much of its history, the United States has imported more petroleum (which includes crude oil, refined petroleum products, and other liquids) than it has exported. That status changed in 2020. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) February 2021 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) estimates that 2020 marked the first year that the United States exported more petroleum than it imported on an annual basis. However, largely because of declines in domestic crude oil production and corresponding increases in crude oil imports, EIA expects the United States to return to being a net petroleum importer on an annual basis in both 2021 and 2022. More »

Growing industrial consumption and exports support future U.S. natural gas market growth

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021) Reference case projects that growth in natural gas consumption in the United States between 2020 and 2050 will be driven by exports and industrial use; consumption growth from the other sectors will increase slowly or stay flat. In the Reference case projection, U.S. natural gas production will increase to 43.0 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2050 as consumption increases to 35.7 Tcf. EIA expects natural gas prices will remain low compared with historical levels, and that low price drives the AEO2021 Reference case's projection of increased production. EIA expects that exports will rise as production outpaces consumption throughout the projection period. More »

Utility-scale batteries and pumped storage return about 80% of the electricity they store

Electric energy storage is becoming more important to the energy industry as the share of intermittent generating technologies, such as wind and solar, in the electricity mix increases. Electric energy storage helps to meet fluctuating demand, which is why it is often paired with intermittent sources. Storage technologies include batteries and pumped-storage hydropower, which capture energy and store it for later use. Storage metrics can help us understand the value of the technology. Round-trip efficiency is the percentage of electricity put into storage that is later retrieved. The higher the round-trip efficiency, the less energy is lost in the storage process. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2019, the U.S. utility-scale battery fleet operated with an average monthly round-trip efficiency of 82%, and pumped-storage facilities operated with an average monthly round-trip efficiency of 79%. More »

EIA'’s AEO2021 shows U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions rising after the mid-2030s

In the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021), EIA projects that U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will decline for most years through the mid-2030s but then begin to rise slightly from the mid-2030s through 2050. In the AEO2021 Reference case, EIA projects that, by 2050, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions will be 5% higher than 2020 levels. More »

Northeast distillate inventories have declined but remain above normal

In late June 2020, weekly distillate inventories in the Northeast United States reached 52.3 million barrels, the largest inventory since late November 2016. Since then, Northeast distillate inventories have declined to 43.7 million barrels as of the week ending January 29. Although inventories declined overall, they were still 10% higher than the previous five-year (2016–20) average for that time of year, according to data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report. About 80% of the U.S. homes that use distillate fuel as their main heating fuel are in the Northeast. More »

Heating and petrochemical demand in Asia contribute to more U.S. propane exports

U.S. exports of propane have been increasing in recent months, primarily to countries in East Asia, as a result of cold weather and robust petrochemical feedstock consumption that drive demand in that region. Between April 2020 and November 2020 (the most recent monthly data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Petroleum Supply Monthly), approximately 58% of all U.S. propane exports went to markets in Asia. Nearly half of all U.S. propane exports in those months were shipped to three countries: Japan, China, and South Korea. More »

EIA projects renewables share of U.S. electricity generation mix will double by 2050

In its Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that the share of renewables in the U.S. electricity generation mix will increase from 21% in 2020 to 42% in 2050. Wind and solar generation are responsible for most of that growth. The renewable share is projected to increase as nuclear and coal-fired generation decrease and the natural gas-fired generation share remains relatively constant. By 2030, renewables will collectively surpass natural gas to be the predominant source of generation in the United States. Solar electric generation (which includes photovoltaic (PV) and thermal technologies and both small-scale and utility-scale installations) will surpass wind energy by 2040 as the largest source of renewable generation in the United States. More »

EIA's liquids pipeline database shows infrastructure changes and project statuses

In December, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) updated its Liquids Pipeline Projects Database of more than 240 future and historical liquids pipeline projects in the United States since 2010. These pipelines carry crude oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs), and petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refinery products). More »

EIA's AEO2021 Reference case shows crude oil production plateauing after 2030

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 Reference case, which assumes current laws and regulations through 2050, projects domestic crude oil production to return to 2019 levels by 2023 and then remain near 13 million to 14 million barrels per day (b/d) through 2050. The United States continues to be an integral part of global oil markets and a significant source of supply, despite uncertainty surrounding post-pandemic expectations for oil and natural gas demand. More »

EIA's AEO2021 explores the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. energy mix through 2050

The United States will likely take years to return to 2019 levels of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions following the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy and global energy sector, according to projections in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021), which will be released later today. More »

U.S. wind generation sets new daily and hourly records at end of 2020

In the final months of 2020, electricity generation from wind turbines in the United States set daily and hourly records. Hourly data collected in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor show an hourly record set late in the day on December 22 and a daily record set on the following day. More »

Natural gas production far exceeded consumption in West Virginia in 2019

In West Virginia in 2019, 5.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of marketed natural gas was produced and 0.6 Bcf/d was consumed. No other state had a higher ratio of natural gas production to consumption in 2019. West Virginia's natural gas production ranked 6th out of the 50 states in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Natural Gas Annual. West Virginia ranked third for proved natural gas reserves in 2019, behind only Texas and Pennsylvania. More »