LNG led decade-long gas demand growth in US: EIA

LNG production in Texas and Louisiana led a decade-long growth in demand for natural gas in the US between 2012 and 2022, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said June 27.

In its daily Today in Energy report, the EIA said US gas demand increased by 43%, or 34.5bn ft³/day, between 2012 and 2022, while demand in Texas and Louisiana, home to virtually all US gas liquefaction capacity, increased by 116%, or 16bn ft³/day, driven largely by feedgas demand from the LNG sector.

“US LNG exports began in 2016 with the startup of the Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana,” the EIA said. “Other terminals in both states began exporting LNG soon after, prompting most of the growth in natural gas demand.”

Over the same period, natural gas demand from the power generation sector was the second most significant factor in total demand growth, with coal-to-gas switching and rising demand for air conditioning leading the growth.

In the Midwest, total natural gas demand grew by 35% as gas consumption in the power sector more than doubled, rising by 2.3bn ft³/day. In the Northeast, natural gas demand grew by 36%, also driven by increased consumption by power producers.

“Natural gas consumption in the electric power sector increased almost every year in the last five years because summers have gotten warmer, which has increased air-conditioning demand,” the EIA said. “The summer months last year were the third warmest on record in the United States, resulting in increased demand for air conditioning and higher natural gas-fired electric power generation in the US Lower 48 states.”

The southern US – outside Texas and Louisiana – consumes the most natural gas of any region in the US, nearly 33bn ft³/day, and has the country’s highest industrial and power sector consumption. The Northeast and the West consumed the least natural gas, with demand from each at around 12.2bn ft³/day in 2022, the EIA said.