EIA recently forecasted the growth of the industrial consumption of natural gas to continue into 2022, and natural gas delivered to industrial consumers to average 23.8 Bcf/d.
If realized, this amount would be near the current record high for annual industrial natural gas consumption set in the early 1970s.
Many industrial processes have limited or no alternatives to natural gas for use as both fuel and feedstock, making industrial natural gas consumption relatively insensitive to short-term price fluctuations. Some value-added industrial products such as ammonia, methanol and hydrogen that are produced from natural gas remain economically competitive even when natural gas prices are relatively high.
U.S. industrial natural gas consumption averaged 22.9 Bcf/d in the first half of 2021, according to EIA.
For more information, visit www.eia.gov or call (202) 586-8800.
