U.S. to release 30 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve

On March 1, the U.S. Department of Energy committed to releasing 30 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ensure an adequate supply of petroleum in response to Russia's further invasion of Ukraine. This SPR release is part of a coordinated effort among the 31 members of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Other IEA member countries collectively agreed to release an additional 30 million barrels of petroleum from their emergency reserves, bringing the total release to 60 million barrels. More »

Solar power and batteries account for 60% of planned new U.S. electric generation capacity

Power plant developers and operators expect to add 85 gigawatts (GW) of new generating capacity to the U.S. power grid from 2022 to 2023, 60% (51 GW) of which will be made up of solar power and battery storage projects, according to data reported in our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. In many cases, projects combine these technologies. More »

Crude oil prices increase above $100 per barrel following Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Following reports that Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, the front-month futures price of both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil have increased to more than $100 per barrel (b). The front-month Brent contract price closed just below $115/b on Wednesday, March 2, after rising and settling above $100/b on February 28. The Brent crude oil price last rose above $100/b in late 2014. The front-month WTI contract price closed above $110/b on March 2, after first settling above $100/b on March 1. More »

EIA projects U.S. energy consumption will grow through 2050, driven by economic growth

Energy consumption will increase in the United States over the next 30 years across a variety of economic scenarios as population and economic growth outpace energy efficiency gains, according to our Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022), which we will release later today. More »

New pipelines carrying natural gas plant liquids increase natural gas processing

In 2020 and 2021, more than 2,000 miles of new liquids pipelines were brought into service, according to our Liquids Pipeline Projects database. Several of these recent infrastructure projects were dedicated to transporting a mix of natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), which are produced at natural gas processing plants from raw natural gas streams. More »

During 2021, U.S. retail electricity prices rose at fastest rate since 2008

In 2021, the average nominal retail electricity price paid by U.S. residential electric customers rose at the fastest rate since 2008, increasing 4.3% from 2020 to 13.72 cents per kilowatthour (kWh), according to data from our latest Electric Power Monthly. This increase is similar to the change in the U.S. Consumer Price Index, which was 4.7% in 2021. More »