U.S. natural gas inventories near five-year average after mild December, cold January

After starting the winter heating season (November–March) below its previous five-year average, Lower 48 working natural gas in storage surpassed its five-year average in mid-December during one of the warmest Decembers on record. However, colder-than-normal temperatures in early January, along with increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and increased power demand compared with last year, have lessened these gains, and working natural gas is again less than the five-year average. More »

EIA forecasts OPEC production will grow in 2022 despite recent production outages in Libya

In our January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that OPEC petroleum production will increase by nearly 2.7 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2022, the largest year-over-year increase in OPEC production since 2004. This increase in our forecast of crude oil production is largely based on our interpretation of the January 2022 OPEC+ meeting, when participants reaffirmed their decision to continue to increase output by 0.4 million b/d each month until all of the production cuts are reversed. We expect that recent production disruptions in Libya will be more than offset by production increases from other OPEC members. More »

Proved reserves of U.S. crude oil and lease condensate declined by 19% during 2020

Because of lower oil prices in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. operators reported a 19% reduction in proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate in 2020, according to our Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2020 report. Proved reserves totaled 38.2 billion barrels for the year. More »

Proved reserves of natural gas fell 4% in the United States during 2020

Because of lower natural gas prices in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. operators reported that proved natural gas reserves in 2020 declined by 4% to 473.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), according to our Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2020 report. More »

Stand-alone natural gas wells driving new growth in Saudi Arabia's natural gas production

Saudi Arabia's dry natural gas production reached an average of 11 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) for the first time in 2020, a 30% increase from 2010. Oil production cuts related to the December 2016 OPEC+ agreement have reduced Saudi Arabia’s associated natural gas production (natural gas produced as a by-product of oil production). However, the country's total natural gas output steadily has steadily grown over the past two decades because of the development of non-associated, or stand-alone, natural gas fields. More »

CO2 emissions allowance prices increased in latest RGGI auction

The most recent Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) quarterly auction (held on December 1, 2021) resulted in a clearing price of $13.00 per allowance, surpassing the previous auction's record price of $9.30 per allowance. Each allowance represents a limited authorization for power plants to emit one short ton of CO2. More »