Petroleum refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast increasingly rely on merchant suppliers, rather than their own production, to provide the hydrogen used to reduce the sulfur content of fuel. As global demand for distillate fuel oil has increased and sulfur…
Month: March 2019 (page 2)
U.S. natural gas production hit a new record high in 2018
U.S. natural gas production grew by 10.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2018, an 11% increase from last year. The increase was the largest annual volumetric growth on record and reached a record high for the second consecutive…
The United States imports and exports substantial volumes of petroleum
U.S. net trade of petroleum, which includes crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas plant liquids, has fallen in recent years, reaching 2.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2018. This level is the lowest level of net petroleum trade…
Increases in natural gas production from Appalachia affect natural gas flows
The 2019 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2019) Reference case shows continued growth of natural gas production in the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio region from the Marcellus and Utica formations, resulting in increases of natural gas being transported to the Eastern Midwest and,…
More than 60% of electric generating capacity installed in 2018 was fueled by natural gas
Based on EIA’s December 2018 monthly electric generator inventory of utility-scale generation, 31.3 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity were added in the United States in 2018 and 18.7 GW of capacity were retired. The 2018 annual capacity additions were the…
U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity and throughput have increased in recent years
EIA estimates that between 2014 and 2017 natural gas processing capacity and processing throughput increased by about 5% on a net basis in the Lower 48 states, even as the number of individual plants declined. Natural gas processing plant utilization…
Record U.S. electricity generation in 2018 driven by record residential, commercial sales
U.S. net electricity generation increased by 4% in 2018, reaching a record high of 4,178 million megawatthours (MWh), according to EIA’s Electric Power Monthly. Last year was the first time total utility-scale generation surpassed the pre-recession peak of 4,157 million…
In late January, Gulf Coast gasoline crack spreads reached their lowest levels since 2014
U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline crack spreads had been declining since mid-2018 and briefly went negative in January and early February 2019 before rising, while distillate crack spreads remained relatively stable. The gasoline crack spread is the difference between the spot…
Nuclear reactor restarts in Japan displacing LNG imports in 2019
n 2018, Japan restarted five nuclear reactors that were shut down after the 2011 Fukushima accident. As those reactors return to full operation, the resulting increase in nuclear generation is likely to displace generation from fossil sources, in particular natural…
EIA expects stable U.S. biofuels production, consumption, and trade through 2020
In its February 2019 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that several recent trends in U.S. biofuels markets will continue through 2020. In the STEO, production of fuel ethanol and net imports of biomass-based diesel stay unchanged, while net exports…
