In the U.S. electric power sector, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts natural gas consumption to decline in second half 2020 after growing in the first half of the year.
EIA expects domestic consumption of natural gas in 2020 will fall 3.4 billion cubic feet per day compared with 2019, led by a 1.6 billion cubic feet per day decline in industrial natural gas consumption. EIA forecasts lower overall U.S. consumption in 2020 because of reduced economic activity related to the impact of COVID-19 and milder-than-normal temperatures in first quarter 2020 that reduced demand for space heating in buildings.
In 2020, EIA expects natural gas consumption in the residential and commercial sectors to decrease by 3.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively. Warmer weather in first quarter 2020 was the largest contributor to falling residential and commercial demand; combined residential and commercial demand was down 5.6 billion cubic feet per day in first qua
