WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2020) Production as well as demand for natural gas in the United States are expected to fall for both this year and next from 2019 highs due to the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the US Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.
"EIA forecasts US dry natural gas production will average 90.9 billion cubic feet per day in 2020, which is down from an average of 93.1 bcf/d in 2019," the agency said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which is published monthly. "EIA forecasts dry natural gas production in the United States to average 87.9 Bcf/d in 2021."
If realized, it would be the first annual decline in natural gas production since 2016 and the first time that output of the fuel has fallen back-to-back for two years since 2005.
As for demand, the EIA said it expected residential consumption of natural gas in 2020 to average 12.9 bcf/d (down 0.8 Bcf/d from 2019) and commercial demand in 2020 to average 8.6 bcf/d (down 1.0 Bcf/d from 2019).
Industrial consumption of natural gas was, meanwhile, forecast to average 22.5 bcf/d in 2020 (down 0.5 Bcf/d from 2019) as a result of reduced manufacturing activity. The EIA expected total US natural gas consumption to average 79.4 bcf/d in 2021, a 4.8 percent decline from 2020.
