Drought at the Panama Canal delays energy shipments, increasing shipping costs

A drought is limiting ship traffic through the Panama Canal. The resulting delays caused shipping rates through the Panama Canal for Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs) to reach record highs, which increased the cost of shipping liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States. More »

Solar and wind power curtailments are rising in California

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasingly curtailing solar- and wind-powered electricity generation as it faces the rapid growth of wind and solar power in California. More »

EIA forecasts winter U.S. household expenditures higher on fuel oil and lower on propane

We forecast that U.S. households that heat primarily with heating oil will spend more this winter on heating compared with last winter, but households heating primarily with propane will spend less than last winter, according to our 2023 Winter Fuels Outlook (WFO) supplement to our October Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). More »

The number of operating U.S. natural gas rigs has declined 24% since start of 2023

On October 20, the Baker Hughes Company reported 118 natural gas-directed rigs were active in the United States, a decrease of 38 rigs since the start of 2023. The decline in active drilling rigs coincides with lower natural gas prices for most of 2023, compared with relatively high natural gas prices for most of 2022. More »

Market prices for Renewable Fuel Standard credits are falling

The prices of ethanol (D6) and biomass-based diesel (D4) renewable identification number (RIN) credits—the compliance mechanism used for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—each fell by more than one third between September 1 and October 16, our data shows. As of October 16, biomass-based diesel RINs (D4 RINs) were $0.90, and ethanol RINs (D6 RINs) were $0.89; both prices were more than 40 cents lower than on September 1. D4 RIN prices have not been this low since 2020, when EPA granted several small refinery exemptions that reduced fuel blending requirements and RIN prices. More »

Venezuela's heavy crude oil output increases are limited following U.S. sanctions relief

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) effectively lifted most U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector on October 18 for six months, paving the way for additional exports of the heavy, sour crude oil the country produces. That type of crude oil has been in short supply and has had significant price increases in recent months. Still, years of underinvestment and mismanagement of Venezuela's energy sector will likely limit crude oil production growth to less than 200,000 barrels per day (b/d) by the end of 2024, requiring more time and investment for additional growth. More »

Average U.S. natural gas bills expected to decrease this winter

We forecast lower average natural gas bills for U.S. consumers that heat their homes primarily with natural gas this winter heating season (November 1 to March 31) compared with last winter. The lower residential winter natural gas expenditures we forecast in the 2023 Winter Fuels Outlook supplement to our October Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) are due, mainly, to lower natural gas prices. The wholesale U.S. natural gas spot price at the national benchmark Henry Hub started last winter heating season averaging $5.66 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in November. This November, we expect the Henry Hub price to be 45% lower than last year, averaging $3.12/Mcf. More »

High Permian well productivity, crude oil prices drive U.S. natural gas production growth

We estimate that U.S. marketed natural gas production in the Lower 48 states (L48) will grow by 5% (5.0 billion cubic feet per day [Bcf/d]) in 2023 and 2% (1.8 Bcf/d) in 2024 in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. Most of the forecast growth comes from the Permian region, where we expect that improved well-level productivity and higher crude oil prices will spur drilling activity that will increase natural gas production. More »

U.S. summer nuclear outages rose in 2023, returning to 2021 levels

Outages of U.S. nuclear generating capacity averaged 3.1 gigawatts (GW) per day during the summer of 2023 (June 1 through August 31), a return to 2021 levels. Capacity outages this past summer exceeded those in summer 2022 by more than 25%. Nuclear capacity outages peaked in June because some reactors were still offline at the end of the spring refueling and maintenance season. June capacity outages averaged 6.1 GW per day and peaked at 8.3 GW. More »

New natural gas-fired capacity additions expected to total 8.6 gigawatts in 2023

So far in 2023, 10 natural gas-fired power plants have come online in the United States with a total of 6.8 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity, according to our Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. By the end of 2023, we expect another six natural gas-fired power plants with another 1.8 GW of capacity to come online, bringing total 2023 capacity additions to 8.6 GW. The additions include both combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants and simple-cycle gas turbine (SCGT) plants concentrated near the Gulf Coast and Appalachia natural gas producing regions and in Florida. In 2022, a total of 11 natural gas-fired power plants came online, adding 5.6 GW of capacity. Total natural gas-fired capacity additions increased in both 2022 and 2023 after consecutive declines in the prior three years. More »

EIA expects most U.S. households will spend less on energy this winter

We expect U.S. households that use natural gas and those that are located in the West (regardless of fuel type)—together accounting for more than half of all U.S. households—to spend less on heating this winter compared with last winter. U.S. homes that use heating oil will likely spend slightly more this winter than last winter because the increased heating demand due to a cooler winter in the Northeast, where heating oil is most used, is likely to offset lower heating oil prices. More »

EIA projects global energy consumption will outpace efficiency gains in most cases

In our International Energy Outlook 2023 (IEO2023), we project that global energy-related CO2 emissions will increase by 2050 in a number of IEO2023 cases as global population growth and higher living standards push growth in energy consumption beyond advances in energy efficiency. More »

U.S. crude oil exports reached a record high in first half of 2023

U.S. crude oil exports in the first half of 2023 averaged 3.99 million barrels per day (b/d), which is a record high for the first half of a year since 2015, when the U.S. ban on most crude oil exports from the United States was repealed. In the first half of 2023, crude oil exports were up 650,000 b/d (19%) compared with the first half of 2022. More »

Peak hourly U.S. electricity demand in July was the second highest since 2016

On July 27, 2023, peak hourly electricity demand in the continental United States reached 741,815 megawatthours (MWh). This peak was the second highest since we began collecting this data in 2016, just under the all-time high of 742,704 MWh recorded on July 20, 2022. More »

U.S. exports of natural gas set a record high in the first half of 2023

The United States exported more natural gas in the first half of 2023 (1H23) than it did in the same period of any previous year. Natural gas exports averaged 20.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), 4% (0.8 Bcf/d) more than in 1H22, according to our Natural Gas Monthly. More »

U.S. construction costs dropped for solar, wind, and natural gas-fired generators in 2021

The average construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, and natural gas-fired electricity generators all decreased in the United States in 2021 compared with 2020, according to our recently released data. Average construction costs fell by 18% from 2020 for natural gas-fired generators, by 5% for wind turbines, and by 6% for solar photovoltaic systems. More »

U.S. petroleum product exports set new record in the first half of 2023

U.S. petroleum product exports totaled nearly 6.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in the first half of 2023, 2% more than during the same period in 2022. The first half of 2023 saw the most U.S. petroleum product exports during the first six months of any year in our Petroleum Supply Monthly data, which date back to 1981. More »