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Energy Sources

Recent Statistics

Energy Ant

Energy statistics can answer questions such as How reliant is the United States on imports? and Which renewable fuel do we use most?

U.S. total energy statistics

Preliminary data for 2017.1 Note: sum of share of totals may not equal 100% because of independent rounding.

Total primary energy production 87.54 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu)
    By fuel/energy source
  • Natural gas
  • Petroleum (crude oil and natural gas plant liquids)
  • Coal
  • Renewable
  • Nuclear
share of total
    • 32%
    • 28%
    • 18%
    • 13%
    • 10%
Total energy consumption 2 97.68 quadrillion Btu
share of total
  • 37%
  • 29%
  • 14%
  • 11%
  •   9%


  • 32%
  • 29%
  • 20%
  • 18%
Energy trade  
  • Imports
  • Exports
  • Net imports
  • 25.32 quadrillion Btu
  • 17.90 quadrillion Btu
  •   7.44 quadrillion Btu
Electricity generation 4.01 trillion kilowatthours

By major fuel/energy source

  • Natural gas and other gases
  • Coal
  • Nuclear
  • Renewables
  • Petroleum

share of total

  • 32%
  • 30%
  • 20%
  • 17%
  •   1;%
Energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions 5,142 million metric tons CO2
share of total
  • 45%
  • 29%
  • 26%
Energy consumption/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio
  • 2017
  • 1980
  •  5.72 thousand Btu per 2009 dollar
  • 12.10 thousand Btu per 2009 dollar

1 Source: Monthly Energy Review, April 2018
2 Includes primary energy consumption, retail electricity sales to the sector, and electrical system energy losses.

More statistics for each energy source

Crude oil and petroleum statistics

Preliminary data for the United States for 2017. Units are in barrels per day (b/d), except where noted.

Petroleum production (crude oil, other petroleum liquids, and renewable fuels) 14,283,000 b/d
Crude oil production
9,355,000 b/d
U.S. crude oil imports
7,912,000 b/d
Petroleum product imports
2,163,000 b/d
Net petroleum imports
3,732,000 b/d
Dependence on net petroleum imports (net imports as share of product supplied
19%
Top crude oil import source
Canada–3,421,000 b/d
Top total petroleum import source
Canada–4,023,000 b/d
Top crude oil producing state Texas–3,514,000 b/d
Petroleum consumption
19,877,000 b/d
Motor gasoline consumption
9,319,000 b/d (391 million gallons/day)
Transportation sector share of petroleum consumption
72%
Total petroleum exports
6,343,000 b/d
Federal tax on motor gasoline
18.4 cents/gallon
Average state taxes and fees on motor gasoline
28.31 cents/gallon (as of Jan. 1, 2018)
Federal tax for on-highway diesel fuel
24.40 cents/gallon
Average state fuel taxes and fees for on-highway diesel fuel
29.33 cents/gallon (as of Jan. 1, 2018)
Number of operable petroleum refineries (as of January 1, 2018)
135
Top petroleum refining state (as of January 1, 2018) Texas–5,701,414 b/d
Proved reserves of crude oil (as of December 31, 2016)
32,773 million barrels
Strategic petroleum reserve crude oil stocks (as of December 31, 2017)
662,831,000 barrels
World total oil supply (2017)
97,909,000 b/d
World total petroleum consumption (2015)
95,345,000 b/d

Natural gas statistics

Data for the United States for 2017, except where noted. Physical amounts (volumes) are in billion cubic feet (Bcf) and prices are in dollars per thousand cubic feet (Mcf).

U.S. production (dry gas) 27,291 Bcf
U.S. consumption 27,110 Bcf
U.S. imports  3,042 Bcf
U.S. exports  3,168 Bcf
Average citygate price  $4.16 per Mcf
Average price delivered to consumers
  • $10.91 per Mcf
  •  $7.88 per Mcf
  •  $4.10 per Mcf
  •  $3.52 per Mcf
Ranking of state residential prices

Highest—Hawaii—$38.88 per Mcf

Lowest—Montana—$7.62 per Mcf
Natural gas consumption by end use Amount—share of total
  • 9,250 Bcf—34%
  • 7,949 Bcf—29%
  • 4,412 Bcf—16%
  • 3,164 Bcf—12%
  • 1,564 Bcf—6%
  •    770 Bcf—3%
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports 78 Bcf
Number of producing natural gas wells 486,258
Natural gas percentage of utility-scale electricity generation 32%
Natural gas percentage of utility-scale electricity generation capacity (2016) 42%
Top natural gas-producing state Texas
World dry natural gas production(2015) 124,258 Bcf
World consumption(2015) 124,866 Bcf

Coal statistics

Data for the United States and for 2017 except where noted.

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Production
774.61 million short tons
Consumption
716.96 million short tons
Coal consumption by end-use sector  
  Electric power sector
  Other industrial
  Coke plants
  Commercial
 664.75 million short tons
  33.61 million short tons
  17.54 million short tons
    1.06 million short tons
Average delivered price
  Electric power
 $39.09 per short ton
  Coke plants
$122.14 per short ton
  Other industrial plants
 $58.67 per short ton
Largest producing state
Wyoming—316.45 million short tons
Share of U.S. total produced in Western region 56%
Share of U.S. total produced from surface mining 65%
Demonstrated reserve base 475.9 billion short tons (as of January 1, 2017)
Imports
  7.78 million short tons
Exports
 96.95 million short tons
Coal share of utility-scale electricity generating capacity (2017)
24%
Largest producing coal mine
North Antelope Rochelle Mine/Peabody Powder River Mining LLC
101.59 million short tons, 13% of total U.S. production
Leading producing company
Peabody Energy Corporation
156.73 million short tons, 20% of total U.S. production
Average number of coal mining industry employees during the year
53,051
Productivity  
  2017
  1978 		6.5 tons/miner-hour
1.8 tons/miner-hour
World coal production (2016)
8,199.98 million short tons
World coal consumption (2016)
8,384.18 million short tons

U.S. nuclear statistics

Data for 2017 except where noted.

Total operable nuclear reactors 99
Nuclear electricity net generation 804,950 million kilowatthours (preliminary)
Nuclear percentage of total annual electricity generation 20%
Largest nuclear plant Palo Verde—3,937 megawatts (has three nuclear reactors)
Number of states with commercial nuclear power plants 30
Share of total world nuclear electricity generation

       United States
       France
       Russia
       China
       South Korea

    32.7%
    17.2%
      7.5%
      6.6%
      6.4%

Fuel ethanol statistics

Preliminary data for the United States for 2017.

U.S. production

 

 15.84 billion gallons

377.26 million barrels

U.S. net imports

 

 -1.30 billion gallons

-31.01 million barrels

U.S. consumption

 

 14.39 billion gallons

342.74 million barrels

Source: Monthly Energy Review, July 2018, Table 10.3



Biodiesel statistics

Preliminary data for the United States for 2017.

U.S. production

 

 1.95 billion gallons

46.54 million barrels

U.S. net imports

 

 0.30 billion gallons

7.16 million barrels

U.S. consumption

 

 1.95 billion gallons

46.54 million barrels

Source: Monthly Energy Review, July 2018, Table 10.4



Preliminary data for the United States for 2017 (except where noted) as of June 2018.

Note: MW = megawatts, MWh = megawatthours, KW = kilowatts, and kWh = kilowatthours

Electricity generation from utility-scale power plants (net generation)
Total net generation 4,014,804 thousand MWh or 4.01 trillion kWh
Share of total net generation by energy source  
    Natural gas 32%
    Coal 30%
    Nuclear 20%
    Nonhydroelectric renewables 10%
    Hydroelectric (conventional)   7%
    Petroleum and other sources   1%
Number of electricity generators (2016) 20,724
Largest power plant by net generation Palo Verde (nuclear)—32,340,138 MWh or 32.34 billion kWh

Electricity generation capacity of utility-scale generators (net summer capacity) (2016)
Total net capacity
 1,074,333 MW or 1.07 billion KW
Share of capacity by energy source  
    Natural gas 42%
    Coal 25%
    Nonhydroelectric renewables 11%
    Hydroelectric (total) 10%
    Nuclear   9%
    Petroleum   3%
    Other <1%
   Total may not equal 100% because of independent rounding.
Largest power plant by capacity Grand Coulee Dam (hydroelectric)—7,079 MW

Electricity consumption (end use) and price

Total consumption 3,820,032 million kWh or 3.82 trillion kWh
Share of total consumption by type  
    Electricity retail sales (total) 96%
    Direct use of electricity   4%
Electricity retail sales and shares by sector 3,681,995 million kWh or 3.68 trillion kWh
    Residential sector 37%
    Commercial sector 37%
    Industrial sector 26%
    Transportation sector <1%
Largest electric utility by retail sales (within state in 2016) Florida Power & Light Company—109,449,144 MWh or 109.45 billion kWh
Retail prices by sector (average annual)  
    Residential 12.90 cents per kWh
    Commercial 10.68 cents per kWh
    Industrial   6.91 cents per kWh
    Transportation   9.67 cents per kWh
    Average 10.54 cents per kWh
State retail price rankings (average annual price for all sectors) (2016) Highest—Hawaii at 26.07 cents per kWh
Lowest—Louisiana at 7.75 cents per kWh
Average residential monthly consumption (2016) 897 kWh
Average residential monthly bill (2016) $112.59

Emissions
Emissions from electric power plants (2016)  
    Carbon dioxide (CO2) 1,928,401 thousand metric tons or 1.93 billion metric tons or 2.13 billion short tons
    Sulfur dioxide (SO2) 1,807 thousand metric tons or 1.81 million metric tons or 1.99 million short tons
    Nitrogen oxides (NOx) 1,630 thousand metric tons or 1.63 million metric tons or 1.80 million short tons