In 2021, natural gas generated a larger share of revenue for selected U.S. oil producers

Among 54 publicly traded crude oil producing companies, natural gas revenue accounted for 14% of total revenue in the first-quarter 2021. That percentage is the highest share among these oil-producing companies since at least 2018. The share of revenue associated with natural gas among these companies decreased to 10% during the second quarter of 2021, but it could remain relatively high as natural gas prices continue to increase. More »

Most planned U.S. battery storage additions in next three years to be paired with solar

Of the 14.5 gigawatts (GW) of battery storage power capacity planned to come online in the United States from 2021 to 2024, 9.4 GW (63%) will be co-located with a solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant, based on data reported to us and published in our Annual Electric Generator Report. Another 1.3 GW of battery storage will be co-located at sites with wind turbines or fossil fuel-fired generators, such as natural gas-fired plants. The remaining 4.0 GW of planned battery storage will be located at standalone sites. More »

EIA Product Highlight: Natural Gas Storage Dashboard

Our Natural Gas Storage Dashboard provides daily and weekly contextual information to the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR), which features our latest weekly natural gas storage estimates. The dashboard shows storage activity in several regions of the Lower 48 states and key market fundamentals that affect underground natural gas storage activity. More »

High global demand, low global supply contribute to rising U.S. propane spot prices

Since mid-September 2020, wholesale propane prices at Mont Belvieu, Texas, the main U.S. hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) hub, increased to an average of $1.33 per gallon (gal) during the week ending September 24, 2021, the highest weekly average since February 2014. Wholesale propane prices have increased because of high international demand and low global propane supply. The United States exported an average of 1.3 million barrels per day (b/d) of propane in the first half of 2021, 100,000 b/d more than in the first half of 2020, despite relatively flat production and domestic consumption. More »

EIA expects increasing consumption of natural gas by U.S. industry in 2021 and 2022

Based on our September Short-Term Energy Outlook, we expect industrial sector natural gas consumption to rise throughout 2021 and to exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels. We forecast the growth to continue into 2022, and natural gas delivered to industrial consumers will average 23.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) that year. If realized, this amount would be near the current record high for annual industrial natural gas consumption set in the early 1970s. More »

EIA expects U.S. hydropower generation to decline 14% in 2021 amid drought

In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that electricity generation from U.S. hydropower plants will be 14% lower in 2021 than it was in 2020. Extreme and exceptional drought conditions have been affecting much of the western United States, especially California and states in the Pacific Northwest, which are home to the majority of U.S. hydropower capacity. More »

U.S. energy trade lowers the overall 2020 U.S. trade deficit for the first time on record

In 2020, the U.S. net merchandise trade value of energy products—the value of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity exports less the value of their imports—was a surplus of $27 billion. This amount marks the first time the value of U.S. energy exports exceeded imports since at least 1974, the earliest year in the U.S. Census Bureau's trade value data. More »

Crude oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, are down more than 40% from start of 2021

Crude oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, totaled 32.9 million barrels (excluding pipeline fill and stocks in transit by water and rail) in the week ending September 10, which is a 42% decrease since the beginning of the year. Crude oil inventories at Cushing are now 26% lower than normal, based on the previous five-year (2016–2020) average for that time of year. The Cushing storage hub is the crude oil delivery point for the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract and is home to 14% of U.S. commercial tank and underground crude oil working storage capacity. More »

World's longest-operating solar thermal facility is retiring most of its capacity

The Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) facility in California's Mojave Desert retired five of its solar plants (SEGS 3 through 7) in July 2021 and plans to retire a sixth (SEGS 8) in September 2021, based on information submitted to EIA and published in our Preliminary Electric Generator Inventory. After SEGS 8 is retired, only one solar thermal unit at SEGS will remain operating (SEGS 9). SEGS, which began operating in 1984, is the world's longest-operating solar thermal power facility. More »

The U.S. exported slightly more petroleum than it imported in the first half of 2021

Our Petroleum Supply Monthly trade data show that the United States exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported during the first half of 2021 by 120,000 barrels per day (b/d), or less than 1% of combined crude oil and petroleum product exports and imports. More »

Hurricane Ida disrupted crude oil production and refining activity

On Sunday, August 29, Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane. As a result of the hurricane, 96% of crude oil production and 94% of natural gas production in the U.S. federally administered areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) were shut in, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. At least nine refineries shut down or reduced production. As a result, we reduced our forecast for crude oil production and refinery runs in our September Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). More »

Hurricane Ida caused at least 1.2 million electricity customers to lose power

Hurricane Ida resulted in service outages for up to 1.2 million electricity customers across eight states, according to situation reports from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). Hurricane Ida made landfall on the afternoon of Sunday, August 29, as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The hurricane initially caused more than one million customer outages in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. As the storm continued toward the Northeast, it caused outages in several northeastern states on September 1. More »

Electric load in southern MISO fell as Hurricane Ida moved through Louisiana

As Category 4 Hurricane Ida made landfall along the Southeast coast of Louisiana near New Orleans on August 29, 2021, the electric load in the southern region of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) decreased. Hourly electric loads on August 30, the day after landfall, were about 25% to 30% lower than the average for that time of year over the past six years. Southern MISO experienced a similar decline in electric load last year when Hurricane Laura made landfall. More »

The U.S. exported slightly more petroleum than it imported in the first half of 2021

Our Petroleum Supply Monthly trade data show that the United States exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported during the first half of 2021 by 120,000 barrels per day (b/d), or less than 1% of combined crude oil and petroleum product exports and imports. More »

Hurricane Ida disrupted crude oil production and refining activity

On Sunday, August 29, Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane. As a result of the hurricane, 96% of crude oil production and 94% of natural gas production in the U.S. federally administered areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) were shut in, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. At least nine refineries shut down or reduced production. As a result, we reduced our forecast for crude oil production and refinery runs in our September Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). More »

Hurricane Ida caused at least 1.2 million electricity customers to lose power

Hurricane Ida resulted in service outages for up to 1.2 million electricity customers across eight states, according to situation reports from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). Hurricane Ida made landfall on the afternoon of Sunday, August 29, as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The hurricane initially caused more than one million customer outages in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. As the storm continued toward the Northeast, it caused outages in several northeastern states on September 1. More »

Electric load in southern MISO fell as Hurricane Ida moved through Louisiana

As Category 4 Hurricane Ida made landfall along the Southeast coast of Louisiana near New Orleans on August 29, 2021, the electric load in the southern region of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) decreased. Hourly electric loads on August 30, the day after landfall, were about 25% to 30% lower than the average for that time of year over the past six years. Southern MISO experienced a similar decline in electric load last year when Hurricane Laura made landfall. More »

EIA releases plant-level U.S. biofuels production capacity data

As of January 1, 2021, total U.S. biofuels plant production capacity reached 21 billion gallons per year (gal/y) (or 1.3 million barrels per day [b/d]), as reported by 278 facilities. Fuel ethanol producers accounted for 85% of U.S. total biofuels production capacity, followed by biodiesel producers at 11%, and the remaining 4% by other renewable fuel producers. More »

U.S. natural gas consumption to decline through 2022, led by the electric power sector

In EIA's September Short-Term Energy Outlook, we expect U.S. consumption of natural gas to decline in 2021 and 2022 from 2020 levels. We forecast that consumption of natural gas will decline in all end-use sectors in the United States except in the industrial sector and for other non-sector-specific uses (lease and plant fuel, pipeline and distribution use, and vehicle use). The largest decline will occur in the electric power sector. We expect total U.S. consumption of natural gas to average 82.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2021, down 0.7 Bcf/d from 2020. We expect U.S. natural gas consumption in 2022 to increase slightly from 2021. More »

In 2019, U.S. inflation-adjusted energy expenditures fell 5%

U.S. energy expenditures, or the amount of money spent by consumers to purchase energy, fell to $1.2 trillion in 2019, down 5% in real terms compared with 2018, according to the latest data in our State Energy Data System (SEDS). From 2018 to 2019, total energy consumption in the United States fell 1%, and average total energy prices, adjusted for inflation, fell 5%, contributing to the decline in total energy expenditures. More »

Number of drilled but uncompleted wells declines

Based on our latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), 5,957 drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) were in the United States in all DPR regions in July 2021, the lowest for any month since November 2017. The decline in DUCs in most major U.S. onshore oil producing regions, especially in the Permian region, reflects more well completions and, at the same time, less new well drilling activity. The completion of more wells is increasing oil production in the Permian region, but the completions are reducing the DUC inventories, which could limit oil production growth in the United States in the coming months. More »

Hydropower made up 66% of Brazil's electricity generation in 2020

Brazil largely relies on hydropower for electricity generation; in 2020, hydropower supplied 66% of its electricity demand. Wind and solar generation have grown quickly in recent years and had a combined 11% share of the country's electricity generation in 2020. Biomass accounted for an 8% share. Fossil fuel-fired plants made up another 12% of electricity generation, while nuclear power accounted for 2%. More »

Pre-Labor Day retail gasoline prices at highest level since 2014

On August 30, 2021, the Monday before Labor Day weekend, the U.S. retail price of regular gasoline averaged $3.15 per gallon (gal), an increase of 92 cents/gal (42%) compared with the same time in 2020, according to our Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. Pre-Labor Day gasoline prices have increased to their highest levels since 2014. More »

U.S. solar photovoltaic module shipments up 33% in 2020

Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, U.S shipments of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules (also referred to as solar panels) reached a record high of 21.8 million peak kilowatts (kW) in 2020, 5.4 million peak kW more than in 2019. More »

Shale natural gas production in the Appalachian Basin sets records in first half of 2021

Dry natural gas production from shale formations in the Appalachian Basin that spans Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio has been growing since 2008, and monthly production has recently set new record highs. Production in the region reached 32.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2020, and it averaged 31.9 Bcf/d during the first half of 2021, the highest average for a six-month period since production began in 2008. The Appalachian Basin contains two shale formations, Marcellus and Utica, which accounted for 34% of all U.S. dry natural gas production in 2021. On its own, the Appalachian Basin would have been the third-largest natural gas producer in the world the first half of 2021, behind Russia and the rest of the United States. More »