The Energy Information Administration last week released the Annual Energy Outlook 2006 (AEO2006) full report on its website. In preparing projections for the AEO2006, EIA evaluated a wide range of trends and issues that could have major implications for U.S. energy markets between now and 2030.

While focusing primarily on the reference case (previously released in December 2005), lower and higher economic growth cases, and lower and higher energy price cases, the full AEO2006 report presents information on more than 30 alternative cases. Examples include cases that examine the impact of greater and slower improvement in energy technologies (end-use, electric generation, renewable, exploration and production), cases with more rapid reductions in nuclear costs, cases with the more rapid or slower introduction of liquefied natural gas supplies, and cases that open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration and development. These cases provide the user of the AEO2006 with a better appreciation of the full range of uncertainty that surrounds long-term energy projections.

The supplemental tables released along with the report provide additional detail on projected energy consumption and supply by fuel and technology at both the national and regional level. Also contained in the supplemental tables are: fuel consumption by manufacturing industry, transportation sales information by technology, electric generating capacity forecast additions by North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region, and petroleum refining information by Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADD).

The full AEO2006 report is available at www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html. A report summarizing the major assumptions underlying the projections and complete documentation of the models used to produce the AEO2006 will follow in the coming weeks.