U.S. coal used for the steelmaking process has sold for more than double the price of U.S. coal used as a fuel for electricity generation in six of the last seven years, underscoring a historical trend. U.S. metallurgical coal, used primarily as a raw material in the steelmaking process, historically has sold into export markets at prices higher than those for U.S. thermal coal, a major fuel for electricity generation. From 2001 to 2023, U.S. metallurgical coal sold at an average premium of 90% to the price of thermal coal ..read more

In 2023, 89.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas was consumed in the United States, the most on record. Since 2018, U.S. natural gas consumption has increased by an average of 4% annually ..read more

In 2023, U.S. residential electricity bills increased by 2% each month compared with 2022. That growth rate was slower than inflation, which was 4.1% in 2023. Over the past decade, residential electricity prices have increased more slowly than overall inflation ..read more

Last year, U.S. hydropower electricity generation fell to its lowest since 2001. This year, we expect hydropower to increase 6% and account for 250 billion kilowatthours of electricity generation in the power sector, based on forecasts in our Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). We expect hydropower to increase in nearly every part of the country, with notable increases in the Southeast and in the Northwest and Rockies. We expect other regions with significant hydropower generation to either increase slightly, such as in New York, or remain about the same, such as California ..read more

In our recently released Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will continue to lead growth in U.S. natural gas trade as three LNG export projects currently under construction start operations and ramp up to full production by the end of 2025. We also forecast increased natural gas exports by pipeline, mainly to Mexico. In our STEO forecast, net exports of U.S. natural gas (exports minus imports) grow 6% from 2023 in 2024 to 13.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). In 2025, net exports increase another 20% to 16.4 Bcf/d ..read more

China, the world's largest importer of crude oil, imported 11.3 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in 2023, 10% more than in 2022, according to China customs data. Refiners in China imported record volumes of crude oil in 2023 to supply the country's increasing refining capacity in order to support the country's transportation fuel needs and produce feedstocks for its growing petrochemical industry ..read more

The United States exported 10% more natural gas in 2023 than in 2022, a record of 20.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to our Natural Gas Monthly. U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports accounted for more than half of all U.S. natural gas exports, and natural gas exports by pipeline to Canada and Mexico accounted for the remainder ..read more

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse briefly but fully obscured sunlight to utility-scale solar electric generation facilities along the eclipse's path, from Texas through Maine. Texas was especially affected because of how much solar capacity was in the path of totality ..read more

U.S. working natural gas inventories ended the winter heating season (November 1–March 31) at 2,290 billion cubic feet (Bcf), 39% more than the previous five-year (2019–23) average. Relatively high natural gas inventories all winter have contributed to record-low Henry Hub natural gas spot prices. The surplus to the five-year average grew over winter 2023–24 because of mild weather, low natural gas consumption, and high natural gas production. In our April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect natural gas inventories to remain relatively high and natural gas spot prices to remain relativ ..read more

Every October, in our Winter Fuels Outlook, we publish forecasts for residential energy consumption, prices, and expenditures for the upcoming winter months. Generally, these forecasts have performed well. Our October forecasts for energy expenditures during the five-month period from November 2023 through March 2024 were within 3% of our final estimates for homes primarily heated with natural gas, electricity, and propane. Estimated energy expenditures for homes primarily heated with heating oil were 13% lower than our October forecast because of mild winter weather and lower-than-expected cr ..read more