On September 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its first annual U.S. Biodiesel Plant Production Capacity Report. The report includes the total biodiesel production capacity for all operating plants in both million gallons per year (gal/y) and barrels…
Month: September 2019 (page 2)
Coal shipments to the U.S. power sector continue to fall
Nearly 600 million short tons (MMst) of coal was shipped to the U.S. electric power sector in 2018, the lowest level since 1983. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) power sector surveys, more than 75% of the coal…
U.S. natural gas production reaches a new record despite low prices
U.S. natural gas production continued to increase in August, setting a new daily production record of 92.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) on August 19, 2019, according to estimates from IHS Markit. Natural gas production also set a new…
The nonmetallic minerals industry is one of the world’s top energy users
The industrial sector is the largest energy end-use sector by consumption in the world, accounting for about 55% of world delivered energy in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency. In the industrial sector, the nonmetallic minerals industry is one…
Time between drilling and first production has little effect on oil well production
According to North Dakota production data, the length of time that an oil well has been drilled but remains uncompleted—meaning it has not yet started producing—has little effect on its initial production level. Oil wells are sometimes drilled but remain…
Natural gas-fired power generation has grown in Florida, displacing coal
Florida added nearly 16 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale natural gas-fired electric generation between 2008 and 2018, about one-quarter (24%) of all U.S. natural gas installations during this time and the most of any state. During the same period, electric utility…
Permian Basin natural gas prices up as a new pipeline nears completion
Natural gas spot prices at the Waha hub in western Texas, located near Permian Basin production, settled at $1.55/million British thermal units (MMBtu) on August 15, the highest price since March 2019. This price increase coincides with the 2 billion…
Electric generation transforms primary energy into secondary energy
In 2018, U.S. utility-scale electricity generation facilities consumed nearly 39 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) of energy to provide 13 quads of electricity for end-use consumption. Of the 101 quads of total primary energy consumed in 2018, U.S. electricity generation…
North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming consume the most residential energy per capita
In 2017, people in the United States consumed an average of 61 million British thermal units (Btu) of energy per capita in the residential sector, a 2% decrease from 2016 and the lowest level since 1967. Data from the U.S.…
Average U.S. construction costs for solar generation continue to decrease
According to 2017 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for newly constructed utility-scale electric generators in the United States, annual capacity-weighted average construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems continued to decrease. At the same time, costs for onshore…
