U.S. consumption of liquid fuels dropped during the recession of 2007-2009 but has been rising steadily since 2012. The increase has been most pronounced among ethanol and hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs), which are not made in oil refineries, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a statement highlighting the latest version of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
The statement, which was dated March 4, noted that consumption of ethanol and HGLs (a group of products including ethane and propane) had climbed from 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2007 to 4.1 million bpd in 2019, a rise of nearly 58%. By contrast, it said, U.S. refined fuel consumption fell from 18.0 million bpd to 16.4 million bpd in the same period.
The trend is set to persist through the end of next year, according to the EIA. The agency expects total U.S. consumption of refined fuels to sink to 16.3 million bpd in 2021, even as HGL consumption goes up to 4.4 million bpd.