Today in Energy

We forecast U.S. industrial natural gas consumption will climb to record highs through 2027 in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. Industrial consumption averaged a record 23.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2025, 1% more than the record 23.4 Bcf/d reached in 2023. In our forecast, consumption gradually increases further in 2026 and in 2027 as we expect the natural gas-weighted manufacturing index to also rise slightly over this period.

In our most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that annual electric power generation from utility-scale solar will surpass that from coal for the first time in 2026 within the electricity grid that covers most of Texas. Solar generation is expected to reach 78 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) in 2026 in the electricity grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) compared with 60 BkWh for coal.

Total energy production in the United States increased to a new record of 107 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2025, a 3.4% increase from the previous record set in 2024, according to new data in our Monthly Energy Review. Total production was driven by record-high production in natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), and renewables. This was the fourth consecutive year in which the United States set a record for total energy production.

The United States exported nearly 50,000 barrels per day (b/d) of renewable diesel and other biofuels—a category which includes sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—in the second half of 2025 (2H25), about 20% of the combined production for those fuels. About half of these exports went to Canada, with the rest mostly going to Europe.

Commercial electricity sales in Virginia increased by nearly 30.0 million megawatthours (MWh) between 2019 and 2025, much faster growth than in any other state except Texas, a much larger state, according to our Annual Electric Power Industry Report. The growth in sales of electricity in Virginia is largely driven by a concentration of data centers, as well as electric vehicle adoption and building electrification.