U.S. natural gas production and demand will both rise in 2022 as the economy grows, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO) on April 12.

EIA projected that dry gas production will rise to 97.41 Bcf/d in 2022 and 100.86 Bcf/d in 2023 from a record 93.57 Bcf/d in 2021.

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

The EIA’s April supply projection for 2022 was bigger than its March forecast of 96.69 Bcf/d, but its demand projection was smaller than its March forecast of 84.59 Bcf/d for 2022.

The agency forecast U.S. LNG gas exports would reach 12.19 Bcf/d in 2022 and 12.64 Bcf/d in 2023, up from a record 9.76 Bcf/d in 2021. That was higher than its March forecast of 11.34 Bcf/d in 2022.

EIA projected U.S. 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.