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 »