The United States briefly returned to net importer status for petroleum earlier this year
The United States imported more crude oil and petroleum products than it exported in May and June of this year, briefly reversing the country’s 15-year-long trend toward becoming a net petroleum exporter. After being a net petroleum exporter for seven consecutive months from October 2019 through April 2020, the United States became a net importer, and U.S. net petroleum imports averaged 939,000 barrels per day (b/d) in May and 675,000 b/d in June. On an annual basis, U.S. net imports of petroleum have fallen from a high of 12.5 million b/d in 2005 to 0.7 million b/d in 2019.
U.S. distillate inventories have fallen back within the five-year range
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report, for the week ending November 13, 2020, U.S. distillate inventories fell to 143 million barrels, back within its previous five-year (2015–19) range for the first time since May 8. U.S. distillate inventories reached 180 million barrels in late July, only 3% less than in December 1982, the largest U.S. inventory in EIA’s data, which go back to 1982.
Pre-Thanksgiving gasoline prices at lowest level since 2015
The average U.S. regular retail gasoline price (the price that consumers pay at the pump) during the week before Thanksgiving this year was $2.10 per gallon (gal), the lowest average retail gasoline price for the Monday before Thanksgiving since 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update.
Tags: prices, gasoline, liquid fuels
EIA updates geological maps of Midland Basin’s Wolfcamp formation
Note: Click to see full-size images, starting from top left: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released new structure and thickness maps for the Wolfcamp play in the Midland Basin, which is a part of the larger Permian Basin in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The Wolfcamp formation has attracted many oil companies because of its stacked potential (that is, multiple hydrocarbon-producing zones on top of one another).
Tags: natural gas, Texas, liquid fuels, oil/petroleum, states, New Mexico, map
New York generated the fourth most electricity from renewable sources of any state in 2019
In 2019, more electricity was generated from renewable sources in New York than in all but three states, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Electric Power Monthly. New York’s 39.4 million megawatthours (MWh) of renewable electricity generation was more than any other state east of the Mississippi River and accounted for 30% of the state’s total electricity generation in 2019.
Tags: generation, electricity, renewables, New York, states
Off-grid solar generation could affect how Africa uses coal, natural gas for electricity
In the International Energy Outlook 2020 (IEO2020), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects electricity generation in Africa using two cases with different assumptions about how future electricity needs are fulfilled. In the Maximum Grid Expansion case, in which a centralized grid is developed to meet electricity demand throughout the continent, EIA projects that solar photovoltaic generators will meet 13% of Africa’s electricity generation in 2050. In this case, EIA’s projections do not include off-grid, stand-alone generators. In contrast, in the Maximum Off-Grid case, where demand growth in the southern half of the continent (Africa-South) is met by off-grid resources, solar energy—from both grid-connected and off-grid systems—will provide 21% of continent-wide electricity generation in 2050.
About 25% of U.S. power plants can start up within an hour
About 25% of U.S. power plants can start up—going from being shut down to fully operating—within one hour, based on data collected in EIA’s annual survey of electric generators. Some power plants, especially those powered by coal and nuclear fuel, require more than half a day to reach full operations. The time it takes a power plant to reach full operations can affect the reliability and operations of the electric grid.
Tags: generation, electricity, power plants
The Gulf of Mexico saw its largest decrease in crude oil production since 2008 in August
In August 2020, the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) saw its largest monthly decrease in production of crude oil since September 2008, dropping by 453,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 27%. Production of crude oil in the GOM totaled 1.2 million b/d in August 2020, which is its lowest production rate in nearly seven years. The regional drop in production resulted from the path of both Hurricanes Laura and Marco in late August.
EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to remain relatively flat through 2021
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) November Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that U.S. crude oil production will remain near its current level through the end of 2021.
Natural gas inventories end the injection season near the record high
Note: Data for October 31, 2020, represent an interpolated value based on the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.
The amount of working natural gas in storage in the United States ended the natural gas injection, or refill, season (April 1–October 31) at 3,920 billion cubic feet (Bcf), according to interpolated data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on November 13. The amount of natural gas held in underground storage in the Lower 48 states is now near the record-high value, 4,047 Bcf, reached in mid-November 2016.
Tags: storage, natural gas, inventories/stocks