Electricity demand has been rising steadily since 2020 after more than a decade of little change. Between 2020 and 2025, U.S. electricity demand, as measured by net energy for load, grew about 1.7% annually compared with 0.1% annual growth between 2005 and 2019. Electricity use by data centers is driving the electricity demand growth. Continued development of these large computing facilities and growth from expanded industrial use of electricity are likely to continue driving growth in U.S. electricity demand in the near term. In this analysis, we explore the potential impact of faster-than-expected electricity demand growth, while assuming the same future generating capacity as the February Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

Annual U.S. crude oil exports in 2025 decreased 3% from 2024, the first annual decrease since 2021. Exports decreased to Europe and the Asia and Oceania region, the two top regional destinations for U.S. crude oil. Despite fewer crude oil exports, U.S. crude oil imports decreased by more. Overall, U.S. net imports of crude oil—total imports minus total exports—decreased from 2.5 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024 to 2.2 million b/d in 2025.

In 2025, exports of major petroleum-based transportation fuels, including distillate fuel oil, motor gasoline, and jet fuel, averaged 2.4 million barrels per day (b/d), about the same as the previous year. Distillate fuel oil, commonly sold as diesel, accounts for more than half of these exports, and the entirety of the annual decrease. Exports of gasoline and jet fuel increased slightly in 2025 over 2024. As in previous years, Mexico was the most popular destination by volume for all three fuels, especially gasoline.

U.S. electricity net generation reached a record in 2025 based on data from our Electricity Data Browser. In 2025, the United States generated 4.43 terawatthours (TWh) of electricity, up 2.8% from 2024 generation, which previously had been the highest annual total in our Monthly Energy Review Data Browser dataset dating back to 1949.

U.S. developers signed sale and purchase agreements (SPA) for 40 million tons per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2025 from planned export facilities, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and company website data. This LNG volume equals 5.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), the highest volume since 7.0 Bcf/d in 2022.

On February 9, 2026, Japan restarted Unit 6 of its largest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Niigata Prefecture, which was shut down following the 2011 Fukushima tsunami and nuclear accident. As the reactor returns to full operations, the resulting increase in nuclear generation is likely to displace generation from fossil sources, mainly natural gas, which accounted for 33% of all Japan's electricity generation in 2024.

Natural gas pipeline projects completed in the United States in 2025 increased capacity by approximately 6.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to our recently updated Natural Gas Pipeline Projects Tracker. A substantial portion, 85%, or 5.3 Bcf/d, of this new capacity is dedicated to delivering natural gas to the South Central region of the United States. This region includes the Gulf Coast, where much of the nation's growing natural gas demand, particularly from liquefied natural gas (LNG), is concentrated. The new capacity primarily connects both new and existing supply sources to consumers in the region.

Ten years ago, on February 24, 2016, the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the Sabine Pass Terminal was exported from the United States, marking the beginning of a new era in U.S. LNG exports. Today, the United States is the world's largest LNG exporter, ahead of both Australia and Qatar. LNG exports surged from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2016 to 15.0 Bcf/d in 2025, and in our February Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast U.S. LNG exports to exceed 18.1 Bcf/d in 2027. LNG exports from the United States increased for several reasons, including abundant natural gas supply and reserves, flexible LNG export contracts, and relatively low feedgas costs. In addition, increasing international demand and a favorable investment climate have supported LNG infrastructure expansions in the United States.

U.S. power plant owners and operators plan to retire nearly 11 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale electric generating capacity from the U.S. power grid this year, according to data reported to us in our latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Almost all the scheduled retirements are either coal-fired power plants (58%) or steam turbines and simple-cycle natural gas (42%).

U.S. power plant developers and operators plan to add 86 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to the U.S. power grid in 2026 in our latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory report, a record if realized. Solar power makes up 51% of the planned 2026 capacity additions, followed by battery storage at 28% and wind at 14%.

The first large-scale commercial enhanced geothermal system (EGS) power generator in the United States is under construction with the company reporting in our generator survey that it plans to bring the project online in June 2026. Below, we examine what enhanced geothermal systems are and how they differ from conventional geothermal systems.

U.S. exports of refined petroleum products carried on clean product tankers have increased steadily over the last year, with exports totaling 6.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in January 2026, about 10% more than in January 2025 and near record highs, according to data from Vortexa. Growth in exports of diesel, gasoline, and liquified petroleum gases (LPG) drove the overall increase. Exports of diesel both increased and shifted destinations, with more headed to Europe and less headed to South America, which has historically been the largest destination for U.S. distillate exports.

We forecast that U.S. natural gas marketed production will increase by 2% to average 120.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026 and then further increase to a record-high 122.3 Bcf/d in 2027 in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Around 69% of forecast production over the next two years comes from the Appalachia, Haynesville, and Permian regions.

State taxes and fees on motor gasoline as of January 1, 2026, ranged from a high of 70.9 cents per gallon (c/gal) in California to a low of 9.0 c/gal in Alaska. State gasoline taxes averaged 33.5 c/gal across states, a slight increase from their average last year.

We forecast that production of petroleum and other liquids will continue to exceed global demand, which results in Brent crude oil prices falling from an average of $69 per barrel (b) in 2025 to $58/b in 2026 and $53/b in 2027. Crude oil prices tend to decrease as global petroleum stocks increase. Persistently high implied global oil inventory builds in the near-term are putting downward pressure on crude oil prices despite heightened uncertainty around the volume of crude oil exports from Russia and Venezuela.

About 22% of light-duty vehicles sold in 2025 in the United States were hybrid, battery electric, or plug-in hybrid vehicles, up from 20% in 2024. Among those categories, hybrid electric vehicles have continued to gain market share while battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles decreased, according to estimates from Omdia. In the second half of 2025, battery electric vehicle sales increased before sharply declining in response to the expiration of tax credits at the end of September.

Working natural gas stocks fell 360 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the Lower 48 states for the week ending January 30, 2026, amid Winter Storm Fern-the largest weekly net withdrawal reported in the history of the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. The withdrawal exceeded the five-year average for the same week by 89% (170 Bcf). The large withdrawals resulted from increased heating demand for natural gas and natural gas production curtailments because of severe winter weather. Working gas stocks are now 1.1% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Average wholesale day-ahead electricity prices at most major trading hubs in the Lower 48 states were higher in 2025 than in 2024, driven largely by higher natural gas prices to electric generators. The largest increase in price was $29 per megawatthour (MWh) in New England's Independent System Operator (ISO-NE), and the largest decrease was $14/MWh in the upper Northwest's Mid-Columbia.

Over the past few years, Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) has relied less on Canada for electricity. On January 16, 2026, the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), a 1,200 megawatt (MW) transmission line project, began commercial operation. The new high-voltage direct current NECEC transmission line is primarily intended to increase the amount of hydroelectric power exported from Canada to New England. However, during Winter Storm Fern, New England exported more electricity to Canada than it imported.

Although petroleum accounts for less than 1% of total U.S. utility-scale electric power generation, regions such as New England rely on oil-fired units during winter periods when cold weather creates high demand. When Winter Storm Fern affected New England this week, petroleum was the predominant energy source starting around midday on January 24 and lasting until early morning on January 26. Since then, petroleum and natural gas have been fluctuating as the primary energy source.