Data centers and cryptocurrency mining in Texas drive strong power demand growth
Note: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) defines large flexible load as any facility drawing power from the grid with an expected peak demand capacity of 75 megawatts or more.
In the United States, electricity consumption is growing fastest in Texas, where the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages 90% of the load on the state’s power grid. One of the main sources of growing demand for power is large-scale computing facilities such as data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations, although their future demands are uncertain. In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect electricity demand from customers identified by ERCOT as large flexible load (LFL) will total 54 billion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2025, up almost 60% from expected demand in 2024. This expected demand from LFL customers would represent about 10% of total forecast electricity consumption on the ERCOT grid next year.
Read More ›Utility-scale U.S. solar electricity generation continues to grow in 2024
In August 2024, utility-scale generation of solar electricity averaged 63.1 gigawatthours between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. each day in the Lower 48 states, 36% more than for the same hours in August 2023. Additions of solar generating capacity outpaced other resources in the U.S. electric power sector in 2023, and we expect this trend to continue through the end of 2024.
Read More ›Tags: generation, electricity, Texas, solar, California, states, Florida, utility
Data center owners turn to nuclear as potential electricity source
Last month, Constellation Energy announced a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to provide electricity to Microsoft data centers in the mid-Atlantic region from the Unit 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
Read More ›Tags: consumption/demand, electricity, nuclear, Mid-Atlantic
China extracts commercially viable natural gas from deeper shale formations
China is a major natural gas importer by pipeline and the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the last 10 years, the Chinese government has actively supported the development of unconventional natural gas resources to reduce import dependence and enhance energy security.
Read More ›Tags: natural gas, international, China, map, production/supply, shale
Category 3 Hurricane Helene nears landfall, disrupts energy infrastructure
Note: Major hurricanes are classified as Category 3 or higher. LNG=liquefied natural gas
As of 8:00 a.m. eastern time on September 26, Hurricane Helene was expected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle late Thursday with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, creating the potential for significant disruptions to energy infrastructure. Hurricane Helene is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States this hurricane season. The other three named storms that made landfall so far this hurricane season (Beryl, Debby, and Francine) were either Category 1 or 2 hurricanes.
Read More ›U.S. net natural gas exports remain flat in the first half of 2024
In the first six months of 2024, U.S. net natural gas exports (exports minus imports) averaged 12.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), 1% (0.1 Bcf/d) more than the same period last year and 2% (0.3 Bcf/d) less than in 2023, according to our Natural Gas Monthly. Since 2019, increases in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and exports by pipeline to Mexico have led the growth in U.S. natural gas exports. The United States has exported more natural gas than it imports since 2017.
Read More ›The United States is the world’s largest gasoline exporter
The United States is the world’s largest exporter of motor gasoline (finished gasoline plus gasoline blending components), supplying over 16% of total global exports. U.S. motor gasoline exports in 2023 averaged 900,000 barrels per day (b/d), equivalent to about 10% of domestic consumption and enough to fill up the tanks of over 1.5 million SUVs per day, assuming an average tank size of 24 gallons. Other large gasoline exporters, including Singapore and the Netherlands, have never exceeded 700,000 b/d in gasoline exports. China and India have both added significant refining capacity since 2010 and have also increased gasoline exports.
Read More ›Decline in natural gas price drove decrease in U.S. oil producer revenue in early 2024
Financial results for 36 publicly traded U.S. oil exploration and production (E&P) companies show that cash from operations in the first quarter of 2024 has decreased in real terms from the first quarter of 2023 due to lower natural gas prices.
Read More ›Understanding petroleum product supplied—our proxy for consumption
EIA does not directly survey petroleum consumption; instead, we calculate a similar concept called product supplied from our surveys that span the U.S. petroleum industry. Although we use petroleum product supplied interchangeably with petroleum consumption, the two are not identical.
Read More ›West Coast jet fuel margins fell in August because of high inventories
Note: To calculate the crack spread, we subtract the Brent crude oil average spot price from the Los Angeles jet fuel wholesale spot price.
More jet fuel has been in U.S. West Coast inventories than over the previous five years for 29 out of 35 weeks so far in 2024, according to our Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR). High inventories helped reduce Los Angeles regional crack spreads for jet fuel to an average of 5 cents per gallon (gal) in August, lower than any point in the last five years, including during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Crack spreads represent the price difference between products and crude oil and can be used to determine the relative value of various petroleum products for refineries to produce.
Read More ›Heat content of dry natural gas in Texas was among the lowest in the United States in 2023
The heat content of dry natural gas delivered in Texas, which uses the largest volume of natural gas in the United States, was among the lowest nationwide in 2023, averaging 1,018 British thermal units per cubic foot (Btu/cf), or 1.7% below the national average (1,036 Btu/cf), according to our Natural Gas Monthly.
Read More ›Tags: natural gas, ethane, Texas, states
Development of new fields in Gulf of Mexico to offset production decline in 2024 and 2025
Data values: U.S. Petroleum and Other Liquids Supply, Consumption, and Inventories and U.S. Natural Gas Supply, Consumption, and Inventories
We recently implemented a new model for forecasting crude oil and natural gas production from the U.S. Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). In our latest outlook, we forecast that GOM production will remain relatively flat with new fields offsetting the natural production declines from existing fields.
Read More ›Hurricane Francine has taken energy infrastructure offline
This article was updated September 13 to reflect corrections to data and external links.
Note: Forecast track is as of September 12, 2024, 9:45 a.m. LNG=liquefied natural gas
Hurricane Francine made landfall Wednesday on the Louisiana coast before being downgraded to a tropical storm, taking some energy infrastructure offline along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana through Alabama. Detailed information on energy infrastructure and storm risks is available and regularly updated in our U.S. Energy Atlas.
Read More ›U.S. electric power sector explores hydrogen cofiring at natural gas-fired plants
Against a backdrop of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, operators of a handful of natural gas plants have taken early steps to integrate hydrogen into their fuel streams. Hydrogen alone does not create CO2 emissions when combusted.
Read More ›Retail electricity prices closely tracked inflation over the last 10 years
Note: Inflation adjustment uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The change in average residential electricity prices across the United States has generally mirrored the rate of inflation over the past decade, increasing by less than 1% in inflation-adjusted terms between 2013 and 2023. Without adjusting for inflation, the average retail price of electricity for the residential sector increased from a little more than 12 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) in 2013 to 16 cents per kWh in 2023.
Read More ›Tags: electricity, prices, New England, California, states, map