US Data Centers Set to Burn Record Amounts of Natural Gas

Data centers in the US are set to burn more natural gas than most nations within a decade. According to a new outlook from BloombergNEF, data center gas consumption will grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day between now and 2035, even accounting for many planned projects that may never be built.

This is more gas than is currently consumed by all nations except China, Russia, Iran, and the US itself. The abundance of natural gas in the US and its low cost are key factors contributing to this growth. Gas power plants can quickly ramp up or down as needed for 24/7 data centers.

The power sector is expected to become the second-largest driver of US gas demand by 2035, just behind liquefied natural gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast. Henry Eaton, a gas market analyst at BloombergNEF, noted that there's uncertainty around how the AI boom will play out and that 'error bars' are fairly large.