Category: Management

Statistical Data

Statistical data for the oil and gas industry in the United States comes from the federal and state government, business associations, and private analysts. The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) provide international data.

At the state level in the United States, various state agencies monitor oil and gas consumption and production. For example, the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources External “oversees the drilling, operation, maintenance, and plugging and abandonment of oil, natural gas, and geothermal wells” in that state. Data is also reported at the Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADD) level External, which breaks the United States into five regions. Originally used in World War II for rationing purposes, it now is used to track oil and gas industry data. For example PADD 3 covers the Gulf Coast region meaning Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.

In addition to the resources listed on this page, industry reports compiled by analysts contain recent data and comprehensive industry outlooks. These industry reports are often produced by private publishers and are available through subscription databases. Data can also represented visually through maps.

U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration Statistics
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects and publishes a variety of statistics related to energy information for both domestic and international tracking of: Consumption (Demand); Production (Supply); World Oil Balance; Prices; Reserves and Resources; Imports and Exports (Trade); Stocks (Inventories); Refinery Capacity; Rotary Rigs in Operation; Carbon Dioxide Emissions; Gross Heat Content; and Conversion Factors.

EIA Annual Energy Outlook (AEO)
The Annual Energy Outlook provides projections of energy markets by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Historical publications are available to freely download going back to 1979.

EIA Annual Energy Review
Annual reports cover years from 1994 to 2011, with data series starting in 1949 in charts within the reports. According to the site, data includes “total energy production, consumption, and trade; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, as well as financial and environmental indicators; and data unit conversion tables.”

EIA Monthly Energy Reports
Monthly energy reports cover years 1972 to present. In 2011, annual energy reports were discontinued. According to EIA, the monthly reports include “total energy production, consumption, and trade; energy prices; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and international petroleum; carbon dioxide emissions; and data unit conversions values.”
EIA Natural Gas Data
Comprehensive landing page to natural gas data, including prices, exploration and reserves, production, imports and exports, pipelines, storage, and consumption.
EIA Petroleum Data
Comprehensive landing page to petroleum data, including prices, reserves and production, refining and processing, imports and exports, movements, stocks, and consumption.
EIA Recent Consumption and Efficiency Publications
Contains links to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey, Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey, and the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.
EIA State Energy Profiles
Contains links to state level quick facts, reports and publications, including production and consumption by source and sector.
National Oil and Gas Statistics
Besides the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a number of other federal offices responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry, along with national trade associations, publish statistics. Below is a sample of their statistics collections.

Bureau of Land Management Oil and Gas Statistics
Part of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management regulates the Federal government’s onshore oil and gas interests. They have statistics on permit applications for drilling and leasing information.
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Data Center
BSEE regulates offshore drilling and explorations. Their data center contains leasing, plans, pipeline, rig, well and production information.
Independent Petroleum Association of America Industry Statistics External
Provides industry statistics tracking data on crude oil and natural gas prices; comparative prices for crude, residual fuel, heating oil and natural gas; economic statistics, including production, imports and exports, and consumption; exploration statistics; natural gas storage; rotary rig count; and thirty year summary data for the United States covering exploration, drilling, reserves, supply, demand, prices, costs, industry employment, and financial indicators. Some data also available in PDF, XLS and ZIP doc formats.
U.S. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
“OSTI.GOV is the primary search tool for DOE science, technology, and engineering research and development results and the organizational hub for information about the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.” It includes historical publications from agencies preceding the DOE.
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services (FT900). U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau issues data monthly on imports and exports, in dollars, of commodities, such as “petroleum and non-petroleum end-use.”
International Oil and Gas Statistics
BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy External
BP, one of the major oil companies, produces a report regularly that include statistics on oil and gas. Data going back to 1965 is available to download.
Energy Statistics United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) External
Collects and disseminates international energy statistics, including basic data as well as aggregated tables, energy balances and electricity profiles in its flagship publications: Energy Statistics Yearbook. This page also links to the Energy Statistics Database, which covers 1950-2016.
EIA International
U. S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration provides an energy situation overview for countries, as well as world oil market and environmental data on energy production and usage.
EIA International Energy Outlook
Presents an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the outlook for international energy markets for the next twenty years.
European Commission Energy Data and Analysis External
“The European Commission provides a wide range of analysis and statistics on the energy market including oil, coal, gas and electricity, data on energy imports and exports, and energy trends up and beyond 2050. These actions support EU policy making on energy. In addition, various energy statistics are produced, such as: energy performance in buildings, energy production, consumption, taxation and prices in the EU and abroad, economic and environmental data.”
International Energy Agency (IEA) External
IEA’s comprehensive website includes major annual reports on oil and gas, and groups resources by topic or country.
Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) External
A partnership between APEC, Eurostate, GECF, IEA, OLADE, OPEC and UNSD to provide more transparency in oil and gas industries. Two databases serve that purpose: The JODI Oil World Database, and the JODI Gas World Database. The JODI databases are updated on a monthly basis.
National Oil Company Database External
This open database is published by the Natural Resource Governance Institute and includes information on more than 70 NOCs. The data depends on public documents and government transparency, so there are some gaps in coverage.
Oil Adequacy Index (The Economist) External
According to the website, “The Oil Adequacy Index measures the net change week on week in real oil supplies and forecast global oil consumption.” Some information is available freely, while subscribers can access additional content.

Oil and Gas Pricing

As the world became more dependent on oil, oil prices became a matter of political and global economic importance. Major oil companies set crude oil prices, until control shifted in the 1960s to oil exporting countries. Price forecasting became important in the early 1960s after a series of oil price hikes turned into oil crises. In 1983, crude oil futures joined the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and was traded like other commodities.1 Natural gas futures became available on NYMEX in 1990.2 NYMEX is currently owned and operated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).3 For the first time in oil price history, in April 2020 the price of oil dropped below zero to -$37 per barrel. At that time, demand for oil dropped due to the coronavirus pandemic, and supply increased due to the inability of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and OPEC countries to agree on oil production reduction, which drove up demand for oil storage.4

Price benchmarks are used in the oil and gas industry to give buyers a way to value the commodity based on quality and locations. The main benchmarks used in this industry are:

Brent Blend, is the most common, internationally used oil benchmark. It is based in London, traded on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE), and consists of light, sweet crude oil from offshore drilling in the North Sea.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is used for light and sweet oil in the United States, specifically, crude oil that comes from land-locked wells in Oklahoma.
Dubai/Oman is used for heavier oil with a higher sulfur content from the Persian Gulf to the Asian market.5
Henry Hub is the benchmark for North American natural gas and global liquefied natural gas (LNG), based off of the Henry Hub natural gas pipeline in Louisiana.6 Markets with no natural gas pipelines use crude oil as a price proxy,7 but that is changing.
Oil that trades on the U.S. futures market is priced at a contract for oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, a critical storage hub where many oil pipelines converge.8

Countries and international organizations like the United Nations influence the price of oil and natural gas both domestically and abroad through the use of tariffs, embargoes, and subsidies.

Tariffs are additional taxes on imported goods.
Embargoes or sanctions ban trade with a commodity or whole country.
Subsidies are money from the government to an industry in order to keep prices on commodities low.