According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), the current US natural gas market trends are expected to continue throughout 2019 and 2020. In particular, US domestic gas production is expected to rise from an estimated 83.3 bcf/d (858 bcm/year) in 2018 to approximately 90.2 bcf/d (929 bcm/year, +8.3%) in 2019 and 92.2 bcf/d (950 bcm/year, +2.2%) in 2020. The bulk of the production and takeaway capacity increases are predicted to come from the highly productive Appalachian and Permian basins regions.
US gas consumption, which rose by nearly 10% in 2018 to 81.6 bcf/d (840 bcm/year), is expected to raise slightly through 2019 (+1.3%) and 2020 (+1.1%), with increases in the power and industrial sectors offsetting slight decreases in the residential and commercial sectors (milder weather reducing heating needs). Industrial consumption is expected to rise by 2% in 2019 and 1% in 2020. In 2020, total US gas consumption is expected to reach 83.6 bcf/d (861 bcm/year).
In the power sector, the share of gas will rise from 35% in 2018 to 37% in 2020, while that of coal will fall from 28% in 2018 to 24% in 2020. In 2019, planned gas-fired capacity additions will total 7.5 GW in the country, while 4.5 GW of coal-fired capacity will be retired.