U.S. natural gas inventories near five-year average after mild December, cold January

After starting the winter heating season (November–March) below its previous five-year average, Lower 48 working natural gas in storage surpassed its five-year average in mid-December during one of the warmest Decembers on record. However, colder-than-normal temperatures in early January, along with increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and increased power demand compared with last year, have lessened these gains, and working natural gas is again less than the five-year average. More »

EIA forecasts OPEC production will grow in 2022 despite recent production outages in Libya

In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that OPEC petroleum production will increase by nearly 2.7 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2022, the largest year-over-year increase in OPEC production since 2004. This increase in our forecast of crude oil production is largely based on our interpretation of the January 2022 OPEC+ meeting, when participants reaffirmed their decision to continue to increase output by 0.4 million b/d each month until all of the production cuts are reversed. We expect that recent production disruptions in Libya will be more than offset by production increases from other OPEC members. More »

Proved reserves of U.S. crude oil and lease condensate declined by 19% during 2020

Because of lower oil prices in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. operators reported a 19% reduction in proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate in 2020, according to our Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2020 report. Proved reserves totaled 38.2 billion barrels for the year. More »

Proved reserves of natural gas fell 4% in the United States during 2020

Because of lower natural gas prices in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. operators reported that proved natural gas reserves in 2020 declined by 4% to 473.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), according to our Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2020 report. More »

Stand-alone natural gas wells driving new growth in Saudi Arabia's natural gas production

Saudi Arabia's dry natural gas production reached an average of 11 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) for the first time in 2020, a 30% increase from 2010. Oil production cuts related to the December 2016 OPEC+ agreement have reduced Saudi Arabia’s associated natural gas production (natural gas produced as a by-product of oil production). However, the country's total natural gas output steadily has steadily grown over the past two decades because of the development of non-associated, or stand-alone, natural gas fields. More »

CO2 emissions allowance prices increased in latest RGGI auction

The most recent Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) quarterly auction (held on December 1, 2021) resulted in a clearing price of $13.00 per allowance, surpassing the previous auction's record price of $9.30 per allowance. Each allowance represents a limited authorization for power plants to emit one short ton of CO2. More »

EIA expects U.S. fossil fuel production to reach new highs in 2023

After declining in 2020, the combined production of U.S. fossil fuels (including natural gas, crude oil, and coal) increased by 2% in 2021 to 77.14 quadrillion British thermal units. Based on forecasts in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect U.S. fossil fuel production to continue rising in both 2022 and 2023, surpassing production in 2019, to reach a new record in 2023. More »

EIA expects U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to increase in 2022 and 2023

In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast that U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will increase in both 2022 and 2023 but remain below 2019 levels. In 2020, U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions decreased by 11% as energy use declined during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the U.S. economy began to return to pre-COVID activity, CO2 emissions increased by an estimated 6% in 2021. We expect increasing economic activity, along with other factors, will result in those emissions increasing by another 2% in 2022 and remaining virtually flat in 2023. More »

In 2021, 14 petroleum liquids pipeline projects were completed in the United States

In 2021, pipeline companies completed 14 petroleum liquids pipelines projects in the United States, according to our recently updated Liquids Pipeline Projects Database. This total includes seven crude oil pipeline projects and seven hydrocarbon gas liquids pipeline projects; no petroleum product pipeline projects were completed last year. More »

New renewable power plants are reducing U.S. electricity generation from natural gas

In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that increasing electricity generation from renewable energy resources such as solar and wind will reduce generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants over the next two years. The forecast share of generation for U.S. non-hydropower renewable sources, including solar and wind, grows from 13% in 2021 to 17% in 2023. We forecast that the share of generation from natural gas will fall from 37% in 2021 to 34% by 2023 and the coal share will decline from 23% to 22%. More »

EIA forecasts natural gas prices to remain near $4/MMBtu in 2022, slightly lower in 2023

In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that the natural gas spot price at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub will average $3.79 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2022, slightly less than its 2021 average of $3.91/MMBtu. Natural gas prices increased between March and early October 2021, but they declined in the last three months of the year. We expect natural gas prices to decline slightly in 2023, averaging $3.63/MMBtu, as growth in dry natural gas production outpaces growth in domestic demand and exports. More »

EIA forecasts crude oil prices will fall in 2022 and 2023

In our January 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that crude oil prices will fall from 2021 levels. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the price of Brent crude oil, the international pricing benchmark, averaged $79 per barrel (b). We forecast that the price of Brent will average $75/b in 2022 and $68/b in 2023. More »

Coal will account for 85% of U.S. electric generating capacity retirements in 2022

Operators have scheduled 14.9 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity to retire in the United States during 2022, according to our latest inventory of electric generators. The majority of the scheduled retirements are coal-fired power plants (85%), followed by natural gas (8%) and nuclear (5%). More »

Solar power will account for nearly half of new U.S. electric generating capacity in 2022

In 2022, we expect 46.1 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to be added to the U.S. power grid, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Almost half of the planned 2022 capacity additions are solar, followed by natural gas at 21% and wind at 17%. More »

Wholesale electricity prices trended higher in 2021 due to increasing natural gas prices

Average wholesale prices for electricity at major trading hubs in the United States were higher in 2021 than in 2020 as increasing costs for power generation fuels, especially natural gas, pushed electricity prices higher in the second half of 2021. Constraints on electricity supply as a result of cold weather in the central United States also created price spikes in February 2021. More »

Retail gasoline prices rose across the United States in 2021 as driving increased

Rising crude oil prices and increased gasoline demand contributed to the average U.S. retail price for regular grade gasoline increasing to $3.01 per gallon (gal) in 2021, the highest average nominal price since 2014. The average price for retail gasoline increased by more than $1.00/gal between the start and the end of 2021. More »

Crude oil prices increased in 2021 as global crude oil demand outpaced supply

Crude oil prices increased in 2021 as increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates, loosening pandemic-related restrictions, and a growing economy resulted in global petroleum demand rising faster than petroleum supply. The spot price of Brent crude oil, a global benchmark, started the year at $50 per barrel (b) and increased to a high of $86/b in late October before declining in the final weeks of the year. More »

Energy prices rose more than other commodities in 2021

Energy prices used in the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) ended 2021 59% higher than the first trading day of the year. Price increases were largely driven by increased demand from the initial phase of global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparison, most other commodity indexes included in the GSCI increased by about 20%. The precious metals index was the only one to decline. The energy index of the GSCI increased more than twice as much as the industrial metals index on a percentage basis during 2021, the next highest commodity index group price change. More »