The United States Natural Gas Production Hit All-Time High

The United States’ dry natural gas output will increase to an all-time high of 92.19 Bcf/d in 2019. The EIA forecast this in its latest update of the Short-Term Energy Outlook.

That count is up 10% from 2018, but the EIA reports that the output growth in 2020 will be less. This is due to the lag between adjustments in price and changes in future drilling activity.

The low prices for natural gas in q3 2019 will decrease and eventually decline natural gas-directed drilling. Also, it will be in the first half of the year 2020.

Natural gas production in 2020 is expecting to reach 94.9 Bcf/d. Besides, the total primary natural gas supply will increase to 85.10 Bcf/d in 2019 before going 86.45 Bcf/d in 2020.

Meanwhile, for net natural gas exports, the EIA is reporting 4.8 Bcf/d in 2019 and then raising to a faltering 7.4 Bcf/d in 2020. This rise from 2.0 Bcf/d in 2018, for a two-year surge of 270%.

The EIA estimates that the share of U.S. total utility-scale electricity generation from natural gas-fired power plants will rise to 37% of the total in 2019 and 38% in 2020.

This raise will largely come at the expense of coal-fired power, which will decline from 28% of the average last year to 25% in 2019 and 22% in 2020.

This change from coal to natural gas will be responsible for lowering projected carbon emissions in 2019 and 2020. It declines to 5,180 million tons in 2019 and 5,074 million tons in 2020, the lowest level since 1991.

The bridge fuel that the renewables industry is rejecting is, it would appear from the EIA data, far from behind them. Also, the EIA reports no modest growth in renewable utility-scale generation in 2019 and 2020.

The United States Crude Stockpiles Rise

The United States oil stockpile increased last week for the third week as production hit a record high. Also, distillate inventories like heating oil dropped for the eighth week in a row, the EIA said.

Crude inventories were up by 2.2 million barrels in the week to Nov. 8, compared with expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel surge.

A partner at Again Capital LLC said further declines in distillate fuels were supportive. Contrarily, the rebound in refining utilization works contrary to the data points.

Also, both imports and exports of crude oil were low in the week. The increase in domestic production shows that there is no slowdown in the oil patch, despite the decreasing rig count.

Crude production surged by 200,000 bpd to a weekly report of 12.8 million bpd, the data presented.

Commercial crude imports dropped 327,000 bpd to around 5.8 million bpd, the lowest level since Feb 1996. Also, net U.S. crude imports declined by 589,000 bpd, EIA said.

Oil prices pared profit after the data released U.S. crude traded up 14 cents a barrel at $57.28. Brent crude increased 34 cents a barrel at $62.72.

Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery center for U.S. crude futures dropped 1.2 million barrels. This is their first decrease after five weeks of builds after the Keystone pipeline forced to shut due to the oil spill.

Moreover, refinery crude increased by 155,000 bpd. Also, utilization rates rose by 1.8% to 87.81% of total capacity.

Distillate stockpile decreased by 2.5 million barrels in the week. The expectation of the poll was 950,000-barrel decrease.

The U.S. gasoline stocks surged after six weeks of declines, building by 1.9 million barrels. The expected drop is 1.2 million barrels.