U.S. wind generation falls into regional patterns by season

Wind plant performance–how much electricity a wind plant generates compared with its maximum possible generation–depends almost entirely on the availability of wind resources, which vary depending on both the time of year and the geographic region. More »

Natural gas production and consumption has increased in Egypt and Israel for 20 years

Natural gas has played an increasingly important role in both Egypt's and Israel's economies over the past 20 years, and both consumption and production have grown substantially in those countries. Egypt's and Israel's natural gas delivery systems have become increasingly interdependent in terms of using Egypt's LNG export infrastructure and natural gas feedstock. Egypt has two operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals, which both countries use to export natural gas, according to our updated Eastern Mediterranean Energy profile. Although both countries export some natural gas, growth in domestic use of natural gas over the past 20 years has limited the volume of natural gas available for export. A number of recent discoveries, however, may make more natural gas available for export in the future. More »

Europe's LNG import capacity set to expand by one-third by end of 2024

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) will expand by 34%, or 6.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), by 2024 compared with 2021, according to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL) and trade press data. Expansions of import, or regasification, capacity will total 5.3 Bcf/d by the end of next year and grow further by an additional 1.5 Bcf/d by the end of 2024. More »

Real U.S. gasoline prices this Thanksgiving are mostly unchanged from last year

Consumers paid, on average, $3.65 per gallon (gal) at the pump for U.S. regular gasoline on November 21, the Monday before Thanksgiving. This year's Monday-before-Thanksgiving price is 7.5%, or $0.25/gal, higher than last year, which is the same as the overall consumer goods price increase of 7.7%, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). More »

Natural gas imports from Canada continue providing winter reliability to U.S. markets

Despite the downward trend in natural gas imports from Canada, trade between the United States and Canada remains important in balancing U.S. natural gas markets and helps ensure reliable supply to parts of the United States. Because of ample capacity on pipelines and in storage facilities in Canada, suppliers can rapidly increase flows, which helps to stabilize the U.S. market during periods of supply and demand imbalance, such as during cold winter months. More »

One of the largest wind farms in the United States was completed in Oklahoma last spring

In April 2022, the Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma was completed and came online. At 999 megawatts (MW) of capacity, the Traverse facility is one of the largest wind farms in the United States and is the largest wind farm built in one phase in North America. Project developers expect that it will generate enough electricity to power around 300,000 homes each year. More »

Working natural gas stocks end refill season near previous five-year average

Working natural gas stocks reached 3,644 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of November 11, 2022, according to the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, nearly matching the five-year average, and exceeded the year-ago level for this time of year. The deficit to the five-year average totaled 7 Bcf (0.2%) as of November 11—its lowest level since last January. An increase in injections during the final weeks of the refill season (April 1–October 31) reversed what had been a below-average year for storage injections. More »

Residential heating oil prices start winter heating season higher than last year

U.S. heating oil prices were 65% higher this October than they were in October of last year, according to our Heating Oil and Propane Update (HOPU). The winter heating season runs from October 1 through the end of March. Residential heating oil prices rose to an annual high of $5.90 per gallon (gal) on November 7, 2022, because of tight inventories, low imports, and limited production capacity. Prices fell to $5.79/gal on November 14. More »

Residential propane prices in October 2022 similar to prices in October 2021

Propane prices during the first month of the current winter heating season (October–March) are essentially unchanged compared with prices at the same time last winter. The U.S. residential price of propane averaged $2.66 per gallon (gal) in October 2022, the same as the average price in October 2021, according to our Heating Oil and Propane Update (HOPU). More »

U.S. natural gas disposition increased in 2021, driven by exports

Our most recent annual data for 2021 show that the net disposition of natural gas in the United States increased by 3.6% in 2021 compared with 2020 as a result of growth in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. We define net disposition as consumption, net exports, and net storage. In 2021, however, consumption in all major U.S. end-use sectors declined relative to 2019, and consumption in both the electric and residential sectors was down relative to 2020. More »

U.S. electricity customers averaged seven hours of power interruptions in 2021

On average, U.S. electricity customers experienced just over seven hours of electric power interruptions in 2021, almost an hour less than in 2020. When major events—including snowstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires—are excluded, the average duration of interruptions annually remained consistently at around two hours per year from 2013 to 2021. More »

Strong demand for diesel leads to high prices and tight inventories going into winter

Strong demand for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) in October, combined with reduced global production, has resulted in lower ULSD inventories in the United States. ULSD is the most widely consumed form of distillate fuel oil. More »

EIA now expects U.S. natural gas prices to average above $6.00/MMBtu this winter

In our November Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that natural gas spot prices at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub will average $6.09 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this winter (November 2022–March 2023), the highest real price since winter 2009–10. Our forecast reflects natural gas storage levels that are 4% below average heading into winter withdrawal season and more demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the Freeport LNG facility comes back online. After the winter, we expect the Henry Hub price to decline in 2023 as production growth outpaces both domestic consumption and LNG exports. More »

Most U.S. coal is mined in the West, but most coal mining jobs are in the East

In 2021, 60% of the country's coal was produced in the western United States, but only 28% of workers in the coal mining industry worked there, based on data from our Annual Coal Report. This difference is related to the technologies used in the East and West; surface mines in the West can use massive mining equipment to extract large amounts of coal with relatively fewer workers. More »

Nearly a quarter of the operating U.S. coal-fired fleet scheduled to retire by 2029

Due to continued competition from natural gas and renewable resources, 23% of the 200,568 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired capacity currently operating in the United States has reported plans to retire by the end of 2029, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More »

U.S. electric-generating capacity for combined-cycle natural gas turbines is growing

Eight new natural gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants have come online or will come online in the United States this year. These new plants will add 7,775 megawatts (MW) of electric-generating capacity to the U.S. electric grid, based on our estimates and data from our latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. These eight projects reverse four years of decline in CCGT plant start-ups. We expect CCGT electric-generating capacity to reach almost 290 gigawatts (GW) by year end, or 24% of total U.S. generating capacity. More »

Average U.S. construction costs drop for solar, rise for wind and natural gas generators

Construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems continued to decrease in the United States in 2020; the capacity-weighted average fell 8% compared with 2019, according to the latest data in our Annual Electric Generator Report on newly constructed utility-scale electric generators. By contrast, average construction costs for both wind turbines and natural gas-fired generators increased compared with 2019, by 8% for wind and 4% for natural gas. More »

High natural gas production and storage injections in September drove U.S. prices down

Injections into U.S. working natural gas storage in the Lower 48 states during the 2022 injection season (April through October) have brought storage levels back near historical averages. The overall increase in natural gas storage was driven primarily by five consecutive triple-digit increases in September and early October. U.S. natural gas injections totaled 427 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in September—a month that included the second-largest weekly net injection on record during the week ending September 30 (129 Bcf), according to data from our Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR), a report that dates back to 1993. In September, reduced seasonal demand and strong natural gas production led to more natural gas injections into underground storage and lower natural gas spot prices.. More »

Norway remains a significant natural gas supplier to the European Union

Norway is among the top 10 natural gas-producing nations in the world and has always been an important source of natural gas to the European Union (EU). Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022 resulted in significant declines in natural gas imports to the EU, particularly starting in June 2022, increasing Norway's importance as a source of natural gas to the region. More »