Despite the work of the Biden administration and environmentalists against the use of natural gas, the U.S. had a record use of it in 2023.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported this week that in 2023, 89.1 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas was consumed in the U.S., the most on record. Since 2018, U.S. natural gas consumption has increased by an average of 4% 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% 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% 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% 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% 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% in the residential sector to 12.3 Bcf/d compared with 2022 and 6%, 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% (2.2 Bcf/d) from 33.2 Bcf/d in 2022 to a record of 35.4 Bcf/d.
Source: EIA