Transportation fuel demand has decreased since early March 2020 as a result of reduced economic activity and stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). U.S. refineries have reduced the amount of crude oil and other inputs that they process (also known as refinery runs). U.S. refinery runs fell […]
Category: Today in Energy
U.S. ethanol exports fell for the first time in four years in 2019
The United States exported 96,000 barrels per day (b/d) of fuel ethanol in 2019, the first annual drop in U.S. ethanol exports since 2015. Despite the decrease, total exports remained at the second-highest level on record. The United States exported more fuel ethanol than it imported in 2019, the 10th year in a row as […]
U.S. crude oil inventories are approaching record-high levels
Recent declines in demand for petroleum products have contributed to record increases in U.S. commercial crude oil inventories. Transportation fuel demand has decreased as a result of reduced economic activity and stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Refiners have been able to reduce the amount of material […]
Natural gas markets remain regionalized compared with oil markets
Crude oil markets respond quickly and often dramatically to world events, but natural gas markets have tended to be driven by regional factors and have been less connected to the international market. […]
In 2019, U.S energy production exceeded consumption for the first time in 62 years
In 2019, for the first time since 1957, energy production exceeded energy consumption in the United States on an annual basis, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. The United States produced 101.0 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) of energy and consumed 100.2 quads last year. After both energy production and […]
Low liquidity and limited available storage pushed WTI crude oil futures prices below zero
On Monday, April 20, 2020, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil front-month futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) were priced in negative dollars per barrel (b) for the first time since trading began in 1983. At about 2:30 p.m. ET, WTI traded as low as -$40.32/b; prices remained below zero for part […]
Withdrawals from natural gas storage this winter were lowest since 2015-16
Working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states as of March 31, 2020, totaled 2,008 billion cubic feet (Bcf), 19% more than the previous five-year (2015-19) average for the end of the heating season, according to EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. The 2019-20 heating season, which ran from November 1, 2019, to […]
COVID-19 mitigation efforts result in the lowest U.S. petroleum consumption in decades
U.S. consumption of petroleum products has fallen to its lowest level in decades because of measures that limit travel and because of the general economic slowdown induced by mitigation efforts for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates the decline in petroleum product demand by examining the changes in total […]
North Dakota flared 19% of its natural gas production in 2019
According to the North Dakota Oil & Gas Division’s February 2020 Director’s Cut & Monthly Production Report, gross natural gas production in North Dakota averaged 2.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2019, an 827% increase compared with the 2010 level of 0.3 Bcf/d. Increases in natural gas production came primarily from associated gas […]
Wind and natural gas-fired generators led U.S. power sector capacity additions in 2019
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory Report, the electric power sector installed nearly 23,000 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in 2019. This new capacity was primarily in onshore wind (9,100 MW), natural gas-fired (8,300 MW), and solar photovoltaic (PV) (5,300 MW) technologies. The South region accounted for […]
