Record fossil fuel production in the United States
Fossil fuels accounted for the majority of America’s energy production and consumption in 2019, the International Energy Agency (EIA) reported.
Fossil fuels are sources of energy formed in the earth’s crust from decomposing organic material, including oil, natural gas, and coal.
In 2019, 80% of the national energy production came from fossil fuels and 80% of the national energy consumption originated from fossil fuels.
The EIA publishes the United States Total Energy Flow Chart to visualize that country’s energy from primary energy supply (production and imports) to disposal (consumption, exports, and net inventory additions).
In this diagram, losses that occur when primary energy sources are converted to electricity are allocated proportionally to end-use sectors.
The result is a visualization that associates the primary energy consumed to generate electricity with the end-use sectors of the retail electricity sales customers, although the amount of electricity consumed directly by the end users was significantly lower.
Fossil fuels
The share of total US energy production from fossil fuels peaked in 1966 at 93 percent.
Total fossil fuel production has continued to increase, but production from non-fossil fuel sources such as nuclear power and renewables has also increased.
As a result, fossil fuels have accounted for about 80% of America’s energy production in the last decade.
Since 2008, US production of crude oil, dry natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) has increased by 15 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), 14 quads, and 4 quads, respectively.
These increases have more than offset the decline in coal production, which has fallen 10 quads from its peak in 2008.
