Adoption of autonomous vehicles could increase U.S. transportation energy consumption

Autonomous vehicles are one of the main sources of uncertainty in the future of U.S. transportation energy consumption, as autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to change travel behavior, vehicle design, energy efficiency, and vehicle ownership. Analysis in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2018 (AEO2018) shows that the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles could increase overall light-duty vehicle travel and, depending on how those vehicles are powered, lead to slightly higher transportation energy consumption. More »

EIA expects Brent crude prices will average $71 per barrel in 2018, $68 per barrel in 2019

In the June 2018 update of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts Brent crude oil prices will average $71 per barrel (b) in 2018 and $68/b in 2019. The updated 2019 forecast price is $2/b higher than in the May STEO. Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $77/b in May, an increase of $5/b from April and the highest monthly average price since November 2014. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices are forecast to average almost $7/b lower than Brent prices in 2018 and $6/b lower in 2019. More »

Development of Alaska’s ANWR would increase U.S. crude oil production after 2030

In December 2017, the passage of Public Law 115-97 required the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to establish and administer a competitive oil and natural gas program for the leasing, development, production, and transportation of oil and natural gas in and from the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Previously, ANWR was effectively under a drilling moratorium. Three sensitivity cases in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2018 explore the effect of this law on U.S. crude oil production. More »

Rise in U.S. exports of jet fuel driven by Latin American and Caribbean countries

The United States exported 186,000 barrels per day (b/d) of jet fuel in 2017, the eleventh consecutive year of increasing gross jet fuel exports. Almost two-thirds (62%) of U.S. jet fuel exports went to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, especially Mexico. Relatively high domestic production and a growing international aviation industry have established the United States as a net exporter of jet fuel for the seventh straight year More »

Power marketers are increasing their share of U.S. retail electricity sales

Competitive power marketers supplied about 21% of the retail electricity sold in the United States in 2016, up from 11% in 2005. The share of retail electricity sales of regulated investor-owned utilities fell from 62% in 2005 to 52% in 2016. This shift was driven by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and closed the original federal regulatory structure established by New Deal-era legislation, which was a combination of public financial reforms and regulations in the 1930s More »

Global LNG trade continues to grow, especially from Australia and the United States

Global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached 38.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2017, a 10% (3.5 Bcf/d) increase from 2016 and the largest annual volume increase on record, according to the Annual Report on LNG trade by the International Association of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL). In 2017, there were 19 LNG exporting countries and 40 LNG importing countries. Australia and the United States were among the countries with the largest increases (2.7 Bcf/d combined) in 2017 LNG exports. More »