Research Outline

U.S. Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids

Goals

To provide an overview of select commodities markets in the U.S., specifically: the supply and demand volumes for oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the West Coast, Rockies, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast, Northeast, and Texas; the transportation volumes by commodity (oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids) and by mode (pipe, rail, truck, water) for each region; a list of preferably small independent marketing and distribution firms active by area (location) or commodity (oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids); business risks faced by these marketing and distribution firms in the various regions; and economic trends in oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the various regions.

Early Findings

Insights on U.S. Production (Supply) and Consumption (Demand) of Oil, Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids

According to the July 2020 analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the production (supply) and consumption (demand) of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids in the U.S. in 2020 is:

Insights on Transport Modes

  • In 2019, 75.8% of the crude oil and petroleum products was transported by pipeline, 14.4% was by water carriers and 9.8% was by rail
  • In the U.S. natural gas is transported almost entirely by pipeline, and over 90% of crude oil and refined petroleum products are transported by pipeline at some point.
  • In 2018, nearly 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was transported by pipeline.