Short-Term Energy Outlook

Prices

Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $73 per barrel (b) in August, down almost $2 from July. EIA expects Brent spot prices will average $73/b in 2018 and $74/b in 2019. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about $6/b lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019. NYMEX WTI futures and options contract values for December 2018 delivery that traded during the five-day period ending September 6, 2018, suggest a range of $56/b to $85/b encompasses the market expectation for December WTI prices at the 95% confidence level.

EIA forecasts total global liquid fuels inventories to decrease by 0.4 million b/d in 2018 compared with 2017, followed by an increase of 0.1 million b/d in 2019. This outlook of relatively stable inventory levels during the forecast period contributes to a forecast of monthly average Brent crude oil prices remaining relatively stable, between $72/b and $76/b, from September 2018 through the end of 2019.

EIA expects Henry Hub natural gas spot prices to average $2.99/million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2018 and $3.12/MMBtu in 2019. NYMEX futures and options contract values for December 2018 delivery that traded during the five-day period ending September 6, 2018, suggest a range of $2.31/MMBtu to $3.77/MMBtu encompasses the market expectation for December Henry Hub natural gas prices at the 95% confidence level.

Prices
	2016	2017	2018projected	2019projected
^aWest Texas Intermediate. ^bAverage regular pump price. ^cOn-highway retail. ^dU.S. Residential average. ^eElectric power generation fuel cost.
WTI Crude Oil^a (dollars per barrel)	43.33	50.79	67.03	67.36
Brent Crude Oil (dollars per barrel)	43.74	54.15	72.84	73.68
Gasoline^b (dollars testper gallon)	2.15	2.42	2.76	2.82
Diesel^c (dollars per gallon)	2.31	2.65	3.17	3.18
Heating Oil^d (dollars per gallon)	2.10	2.51	2.99	3.12
Natural Gas^d (dollars per thousand cubic feet)	10.04	10.92	10.67	10.82
Electricity^d (cents per kilowatthour)	12.55	12.90	12.97	13.33
Coal^e (dollars per million Btu)	2.11	2.08	2.09	2.10

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Related Tables
Table SF01. U.S. Motor Gasoline Summer Outlook	PDF
Table SF02. Average Summer Residential Electricity Usage, Prices and Expenditures	PDF
Table 1. U.S. Energy Markets Summary	PDF
Table 2. Energy Prices	PDF
Table 4c. U.S. Regional Motor Gasoline Prices and Inventories	PDF
Table 5b. U.S. Regional Natural Gas Prices	PDF
Table 7c. U.S. Regional Retail Electricity Prices	PDF

Related Figures
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price	XLSX	PNG
U.S. gasoline and crude oil prices	XLSX	PNG
U.S. diesel fuel and crude oil prices	XLSX	PNG
Henry Hub natural gas price	XLSX	PNG
U.S. natural gas prices	XLSX	PNG
U.S. residential electricity price	XLSX	PNG
U.S. census regions and census divisions	XLSX	PNG

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