This article was published by the US Energy Information Administration on April 23, 2024.
By Andrew Iraola
In 2023, 89.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas was consumed in the United States, the most on record. Since 2018, U.S. natural gas consumption has increased by an average of 4 per cent annually.
Monthly natural gas consumption set new records every month from March 2023 through November 2023. U.S. natural gas consumption has risen in the electric power sector as coal-fired electric-generating capacity has declined.
Last year, the largest monthly increases in natural gas consumed by the electric power sector were in July and August, despite cooler-than-normal temperatures than during those months in 2022. Natural gas consumption in the electric power sector, which typically increases in July and August to meet air-conditioning demand, increased by 6 per cent in July and August 2023 compared with those months in 2022, setting monthly records of 47.5 Bcf/d in July and 47.2 Bcf/d in August.
U.S. coal production units are retiring as the nation’s coal fleet ages and coal-fired generators are replaced by generators using natural gas and renewables. Although natural gas-fired power generation increased by 6 per cent in July and August of 2023 compared with a year earlier, overall electricity growth year-on-year was flat in July at 412 billion kilowatthours (kWh) and rose just 3 per cent in August to 410 billion kWh.
The most natural gas consumed in the United States in any month of 2023 occurred in January at 106.6 Bcf/d, but consumption was 8 per cent less than in January 2022. Warmer-than-average temperatures reduced natural gas consumption in the residential and commercial sectors to meet space-heating demand.
Note: Other includes natural gas that was consumed as transportation fuel.
In 2023, natural gas consumption fell 10 per cent in the residential sector to 12.3 Bcf/d compared with 2022 and 6 per cent, or 0.5 Bcf/d, in the commercial sector. The amount of natural gas consumed in the industrial sector remained unchanged, averaging 23.4 Bcf/d. The largest increase in natural gas consumption by a U.S. economic sector in 2023 came in the electric power sector, which increased 7 per cent (2.2 Bcf/d) from 33.2 Bcf/d in 2022 to a record of 35.4 Bcf/d.
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