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This is thanks to the electricity industry’s increasing reliance on natural gas for power generation.
Coal demand by power sector is projected to decline by almost 5% to about 884Mst, the lowest level since 1995.
It is expected coal use will increase slightly in 2013 but remain below 2011 levels.
Power sector demand for natural gas is expected to grow by almost 9% this year to a record high of 22.7 cubic feet per day.
As a result the share of US power generation fuelled by natural gas is projected to rise to 27.1% this year from 24.8% in 2011.
Conversely the share of electricity generation from coal is projected to drop from 42.4% to 40.4%.
The power sector consumes about 92% of US coal production.
Other large coal users are coking plants involved in the steel-making process and industrial users such as cement and paper makers.
These projections include the prices of natural gas and coal, as well as assumptions about temperatures that are key drivers in electricity generation. Of course, all bets are off should prices or temperatures differ considerably from those included in the projections.
