EIA expects increasing consumption of natural gas by U.S. industry in 2021 and 2022

Based on our September Short-Term Energy Outlook, we expect industrial sector natural gas consumption to rise throughout 2021 and to exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels. We forecast the growth to continue into 2022, and natural gas delivered to industrial consumers will average 23.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) that year. If realized, this amount would be near the current record high for annual industrial natural gas consumption set in the early 1970s.