Freezing weather hammers US energy output – Bloomberg

Production of natural gas sees biggest one-day drop in more than a decade

The devastating winter storm that has battered most of the US over the past two days has sent the country’s natural-gas production plummeting by nearly 10%. This marks the largest one-day drop in more than ten years, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

In terms of volume, the plunge amounted to 2.8 million cubic meters compared to the previous day as temperatures across key producing areas dropped below freezing, according to BloombergNEF data.

At the same time, domestic demand reportedly soared to its highest daily level since early 2019.

On Saturday, Duke Energy, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the US, asked customers across Ohio and Kentucky to conserve energy usage due to a lack of capacity under the current circumstances.

Earlier this week, Winter Storm Elliott pounded most of the country, causing widespread power outages that have reportedly affected around 1.7 million homes and businesses.

READ MORE: ‘Once-in-a-generation’ winter storm wallops US

Millions of people hunkered down in a deep overnight freeze into Sunday to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the country, trapping some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts.

Travel has been heavily affected as well, with over 7,000 flights delayed and nearly 3,500 canceled. The US authorities have warned citizens against attempting to travel by car.

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