NEW YORK: US natural gas production and demand will both rise in 2022 as the economy grows, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday.

EIA projected that dry gas production will rise to 97.41 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2022 and 100.86 bcfd in 2023 from a record 93.57 bcfd in 2021.

The agency also projected that gas consumption would rise to 84.11 bcfd in 2022 and 84.75 bcfd in 2023 from 82.97 bcfd in 2021. That compares with a record 85.29 bcfd in 2019.

EIA’s April supply projection for 2022 was bigger than its March forecast of 96.69 bcfd, but its demand projection was smaller than its March forecast of 84.59 bcfd for 2022. The agency forecast US liquefied natural gas exports would reach 12.19 bcfd in 2022 and 12.64 bcfd in 2023, up from a record 9.76 bcfd in 2021. That was higher than its March forecast of 11.34 bcfd in 2022. EIA projected US coal production would rise to 621 million short tons in 2022 and 633 million short tons in 2023 from 578 million short tons in 2021 as power plants burn more coal due to an expected rise in gas prices.

In 2020, coal output fell to 535 million short tons, its lowest since 1965. EIA projected power generators burning more coal would push carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels to rise to 4.991 billion tonnes in 2022 from 4.870 billion tonnes in 2021 before emissions slide to 4.969 billion tonnes in 2023. That compares with 4.576 billion tonnes in 2020, which was the lowest since 1983 due to the pandemic.