The US consumed a record volume of gas last year, with prices a fraction of European levels

Natural gas consumption in the United States reached a new record last year, while European countries and other regions around the world grappled with the effects of the energy crisis. Despite a significant increase in export capacity in recent years, the US market was relatively insulated from the sharp rise in prices on the global liquefied natural gas market. Although gas prices on the US market climbed to their highest levels in more than 10 years, they were still a fraction of prices on European markets.

Thanks to strong domestic production and still relatively limited export capacity, natural gas consumption in the United States averaged 88.5 billion cubic feet per day last year (roughly 900 billion cubic metres per year), the highest level since 1949, when records began, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).