U.S. manufacturing energy consumption has continued to increase since 2010 low
U.S. manufacturing energy consumption has continued to increase, according to our recently released survey results for 2022. We conduct the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Surveys (MECS) every four years, and the latest iteration shows the third consecutive increase in energy consumed in the manufacturing sector since a low point in 2010. Natural gas consumption in the manufacturing sector increased by more than all other energy sources combined, as compared with the previous MECS results from 2018.
EIA forecasts Alaska crude oil production will grow in 2026 for the first time since 2017
In our March 2025 Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast crude oil production in Alaska will increase by 16,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2026 to 438,000 b/d after remaining relatively flat in 2025. Two new oil developments in Alaska—the Nuna and Pikka projects—are expected to boost crude oil production in the state after decades of decline. If realized, this annual production increase will be the first since 2017 and the largest since 2002..
U.S. propane exports have increased every year since 2007
U.S. propane exports averaged a record 1.8 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024, the most since we began collecting this data in 1973. U.S. propane exports increased for each of the last 17 years, with growth driven by higher demand in East Asia, mainly China, and a widening propane price differential between U.S. and global benchmarks.
Average state tax rates for retail gasoline and diesel fuel nearly flat since July 2024
As of January 1, 2025, state taxes and fees on gasoline and diesel fuel averaged $0.33 per gallon (gal) of gasoline and $0.35/gal of diesel fuel, according to our table on federal and state motor fuel taxes.
Since the 2011 Fukushima accident, Japan has restarted 14 nuclear reactors
Japanese utilities restarted two additional nuclear reactors in 2024 that had been suspended from operations in response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident, taking the total number of restarted reactors to 14 since the accident. In November, Tohoku Electric Power Co. restarted its 796-megawatt (MW) Onagawa Unit 2 reactor, and in December Chugoku Electric Power Co. restarted its Shimane Unit 2 (789 MW). Onagawa is the nuclear power plant located closest to the epicenter of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
U.S. inventories enter the winter with the most natural gas since 2016
Working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states ended the natural gas injection season with 3,922 billion cubic feet (Bcf), according to estimates based on data from our Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on November 7. U.S. inventories are starting winter 2024–25 with the most natural gas since 2016. Inventories are currently 6% above the five-year (2019–23) average, despite less-than-average injections into storage throughout the entire injection season, which runs April 1 through October 31. Less natural gas than the five-year average was injected in nearly every week during the 2024 injection season, in part because starting
What Have We Learned Since the 2020 Stanley, Idaho, Earthquake?
Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Zach Lifton, geologist with the Idaho Geological Survey. Map of USGS “Did You Feel It?” reports for the March 31, 2020, M6.5 Stanley, Idaho, earthquake. Taken from https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us70008jr5/dyfi/intensity. For many years, the Sawtooth fault, in central Idaho, was recognized as an active fault, but it remained understudied. Then the Stanley earthquake shook much of the northwestern USA in 2020, providing dramatic confirmation of the area’s tectonic activity. The quake spurred a flurry of research that is shedding light
U.S. gasoline prices this Thanksgiving are at their lowest since 2020
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, the retail price of regular gasoline averaged $3.04 per gallon (gal) across the United States, 7% less than the same time last year. Retail gasoline prices this Thanksgiving are at their lowest since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted gasoline demand.