In October 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered his government ministers to prepare a plan to keep the country�s last three operating nuclear power plants, which were originally scheduled to close at the end of 2022, operating until April 2023.
After decreasing to a 20-year low for the 2020-21 water year, hydropower production in the western United States increased slightly during last year's water year, rising 13% to reach 161 million megawatthours (MWh). Western hydro generation can vary significantly from year to year because it follows rain and snowpack ...
In 2022, refiners in China processed less crude oil than they did in 2021, which was the first year-over-year decrease in processing according to data going back to 2000. Reduced refinery activity in China resulted from numerous factors, including mobility restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and low ...
The natural gas price at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub declined by 41%, or $2.26 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), in January 2023 compared with December 2022, based on data from Refinitiv Eikon. The price decline was driven by warmer-than-average temperatures across the United States that reduced natural gas ...
At the start of the winter heating season (October –March), the retail price of home heating oil in the United States climbed rapidly, establishing a new record in early November, according to data from our State Heating Oil and Propane Program (SHOPP). Since then, the price has decreased because of declining prices ...
In 2021, expenditures by U.S. natural gas consumers totaled $192 billion, a 37% increase from 2020 after adjusting for inflation, according to our State Energy Data System. The increased spending followed rising U.S. natural gas prices, particularly in the electric power sector across the southern United States. Total ...
In our February Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that U.S. refinery utilization will remain similar to 2022 at above 90% over the next two years. The industry is returning to more typical rates after low refinery utilization in 2020 and 2021. We forecast U.S. refinery utilization will average 90.8% in ...
From February 3 to February 5, record-breaking cold temperatures and extreme wind chill in New England created strong electricity demand as homes and businesses turned up the heat to combat the frigid conditions. Despite the widespread and extreme cold, the region's power grid avoided blackouts and met heightened ...
In 2023, operators plan to retire 15.6 gigawatts (GW) of electric-generating capacity in the United States, mostly natural gas-fired (6.2 GW) and coal-fired (8.9 GW) power plants, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.
Developers plan to add 54.5 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the U.S. power grid in 2023, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will be solar power (54%), followed by battery storage (17%).
