Petroleum production in Mexico stabilizes after years of decline

After nearly two decades of steady declines, Mexico's petroleum and liquid fuels production has remained stable since 2019, and we forecast production in Mexico will remain relatively flat through 2024. Private companies have increased petroleum production in Mexico over the past five years. In 2022, Mexican government data show that private production contributed more than 5% of Mexico's total, a large increase from the 0.5% oil contribution that private companies produced in 2016. In December 2013, Mexico changed its constitution to allow for private petroleum production for the first time since 1938, according to information from the U.S. International Trade Administration. Previously, Pemex, Mexico's national oil company, was the sole petroleum producer in the country. More »

Forecast retail gasoline prices for summer 2023 will be lower than last summer

In our April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we estimate that U.S. retail gasoline prices this summer for regular-grade gasoline will average about $3.50 per gallon (gal), or about 80 cents/gal less than the price last summer, which was the highest price since summer 2014. The summer average includes retail prices from April through September. Lower forecast crude oil prices compared with last year are one of the primary reasons we forecast lower gasoline prices this summer. We estimate gasoline prices (despite being lower than last year) will increase slightly from current levels later in the summer because of seasonal factors and rising crude oil prices. More »

Solar distributed generation capacity in Brazil is growing rapidly

Brazil's growth in distributed generation capacity from renewable resources—especially solar—has increased rapidly since the country implemented net metering policies in 2012. As of March 31, 2023, home and building owners have installed more than 1.8 million renewable distributed generation systems in Brazil, totaling about 19 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, the vast majority of which is solar, according to the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). More »

Pennsylvania natural gas production changed little in 2022

In 2022, Pennsylvania accounted for 19% of U.S. marketed natural gas production, with more natural gas produced than in any other state except Texas. Marketed natural gas production in Pennsylvania fell slightly by 2% to average 20.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2022 after reaching an annual high of 20.9 Bcf/d in 2021, according to our Natural Gas Monthly. Natural gas production in Pennsylvania comes largely from the Marcellus shale gas play. In 2022, productivity declines and a plateauing of natural gas takeaway capacity resulted in the small decrease in production of 0.4 Bcf/d in Pennsylvania. More »

U.S. electric capacity mix shifts from fossil fuels to renewables in AEO2023

The U.S. power grid nearly doubles in capacity from 2022 to 2050 to meet increasing demand for electric power, and most newly built capacity will be from renewable energy technologies, according to most cases in our Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (AEO2023). Declining capital costs for solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage, as well as government subsidies such as those included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), result in renewables becoming increasingly cost effective compared with the alternatives when building new power capacity. Economic growth, paired with rising electrification in end-use sectors, results in stable growth in U.S. electric power demand through 2050. More »

U.S. natural gas consumption reached multiyear lows this past January and February

Mild winter temperatures and reduced natural gas consumption in the residential and commercial sectors drove down overall U.S. natural gas consumption this past January and February, according to our Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In January 2023, U.S. natural gas consumption averaged 106.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), its lowest January volume since 2017. February 2023 natural gas consumption averaged 104.5 Bcf/d, its lowest February volume since 2018. More »