By Alex Mills
March 5, 2020
Great news! Natural gas set production, consumption and export records in 2019.
More good news for consumers is the very low price currently and the reduction in greenhouse gases.
And the future looks strong, too.
According to projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA), total dry natural gas production in the United States will continue to increase until 2050.
“The United States began exporting more natural gas than it imports on an annual basis in 2017, driven by increased liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, increased pipeline exports to Mexico, and reduced imports from Canada,” EIA stated.
EIA expects dry natural gas production to total 34 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2019 once the final data is in, which will be a record. EIA projects that U.S. dry natural gas production will reach 45 Tcf by 2050.
Natural gas consumption increased by 3 percent in 2019, reaching a record of 85 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to EIA. “Natural gas continues to account for the largest share of electricity generation after first surpassing coal-fired generation on an annual basis in 2017. In 2019, natural gas accounted for 38 percent of total electricity generation followed by 23 percent for coal and 20 percent for nuclear.”….