Petroleum temporarily became New England's dominant power source during last weekend's winter storm, surpassing natural gas as cold-driven demand surged across the region, according to an Energy Information Administration analysis released Thursday.
Oil-fired units began outpacing natural gas around midday Saturday and remained the primary electricity source through early Monday. Since then, petroleum and natural gas have alternated as the region's top fuel sources.
While petroleum typically plays a minor role in U.S. power markets, accounting for less than 1% of utility-scale generation nationwide, New England relies more heavily on oil during cold weather events. The region represents about 3% of total U.S. generating capacity but holds one-fifth of the nation's petroleum-fired capacity.
New England has 35.5 GW of generating capacity, including about 5.5 GW fueled by petroleum. Residual fuel oil boilers account for 3.2 GW of that total, with the remainder coming from combustion turbines that primarily burn distillate fuel oil.
Petroleum-fired generation peaked near 8 GW between Sunday and Monday, exceeding the region's petroleum capacity and indicating contributions from fuel-switching units. Nearly 41% of New England's 15.1 GW of natural gas-fired capacity is capable of switching to distillate fuel oil. Fuel switching is commonly used during periods when natural gas is constrained or prioritized for residential heating, particularly during extreme cold weather.
As of midday Thursday, ISO New England data showed oil accounting for 27% of generation versus natural gas's 26%, underscoring oil's continued role in the region's power mix following the storm.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
Reporting by Allegra Fradkin, afradkin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 29, 2026 11:54 ET (16:54 GMT)
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