US Natural Gas Consumption Sets New Record In 2019 -- EIA -- March 8, 2020

This might be old news; I think it's been reported before but not sure. This is from the EIA, dated March 3, 2020: US natural gas consumption sets new record in 2019.

Maybe it just seems like "old news" because it certainly should have been predicted.

U.S. natural gas consumption increased by 3% in 2019, reaching a record of 85.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).

U.S. natural gas consumption grew in the electric power sector by 2.0 Bcf/d, or 7%, but remained relatively flat in the commercial, residential, and industrial sectors.

Exports by pipeline to Mexico and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) grew by 0.5 Bcf/d and 2.0 Bcf/d, respectively.

Natural gas continues to account for the largest share of electricity generation after first surpassing coal-fired generation on an annual basis in 2016.

There's a great graphic at the linked site. For me, it's not the year-over-year data that is eye-catching, it's:

• the jump in overall natural gas consumption from 2012 (70 billion cfpd) to 2019 (5 Bcfpd);
• the jump in electric power production from natural gas, a little over 20 bcfpd in 2014 to slightly more than 30 bcfpd in 2019 (a 50% increase in five years)