The price of U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is near its highest level since 2014, increasing rapidly from low prices in mid-2020. Because of the economic effects, government and business responses, and personal travel changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, demand for crude oil and petroleum products declined rapidly, inventories […]
Category: Today in Energy
Despite sanctions, Iran’s dry natural gas production grew steadily over the past 20 years
Despite international sanctions, Iran produced 8.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of dry natural gas in 2019, making the country the world’s third-largest dry natural gas producer after the United States and Russia. Natural gas production in Iran has grown steadily over the past two decades despite sanctions that affected Iran’s energy exports, financial transactions, and […]
Use of electricity in houses to grow more quickly in developing economies
In our International Energy Outlook (IEO2021) Reference case, we project that residential buildings outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will consume more electricity than all residential and commercial buildings combined in OECD countries by 2050. However, people in non-OECD countries will, on average, still consume less than half as much residential electricity […]
Added transnational oil pipeline capacity could reduce crude oil shipped by rail
The Enbridge Line 3 replacement pipeline, which delivers crude oil from Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada to Superior, Wisconsin, became fully operational on October 1, 2021, increasing the pipeline’s capacity to 760,000 barrels per day (b/d). Before the replacement, Enbridge Line 3 had a capacity of about half that amount. Because the Line 3 replacement project […]
Crude oil and petroleum liquids production in Ecuador hit a 10-year low in 2020
In 2020, Ecuador produced 483,000 barrels per day (b/d) of petroleum and petroleum liquids, which is the only year since 2010 that petroleum production fell below half a million b/d, according to the October update of our Country Analysis Brief for Ecuador. Several factors caused this decline. […]
U.S. consumption and production of natural gas decreased while exports grew in 2020
U.S. natural gas production and consumption decreased in 2020 because of mild winter weather and the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on demand, according to our recently released Natural Gas Annual. Less natural gas was consumed in the United States, which pushed prices down; the annual Henry Hub spot price for 2020 averaged $2.03 per million British […]
Residential propane prices start winter heating season at highest level since 2011
The average U.S. residential price of propane reached $2.59 per gallon (gal) as of October 4, 2021, the highest price reported for the first week of the winter heating season since 2011, according to our Heating Oil and Propane Update (HOPU). The winter heating season runs from October through March. Prices during the first four […]
Two nuclear power plants in northern Illinois reversed plans to retire early
Exelon, the owner-operator of Illinois’s six nuclear power plants, recently announced that the Byron and Dresden nuclear plants will continue operating rather than retire this fall as previously planned. The announcement came after the Illinois state legislature and governor approved a clean energy bill supporting carbon-free energy resources. […]
U.S. consumers expected to spend more for heating oil this upcoming winter
In our latest Winter Fuels Outlook, we expect higher heating oil prices and a slightly colder winter compared with last year will contribute to households across the United States spending more on heating this winter (October–March) compared with the past two winters. […]
EIA projects global conventional vehicle fleet will peak in 2038
In our International Energy Outlook 2021, we estimate the global light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet contained 1.31 billion vehicles in 2020, and we project this fleet will grow to 2.21 billion vehicles by 2050. We project electric vehicles (EVs)—any LDV with a charging plug—will grow from 0.7% of the global LDV fleet in 2020 to 31% […]
