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uts in order to help stabilize prices. With demand returning and commodity prices soaring, experts question how long these cuts will last.

U.S. solar installations grew a record 43% from 2019 to 2020, which means that 20% of the country’s entire solar capacity was installed last year alone. But it’s still no match for coal and natural gas, which currently provide 60% of the country’s electricity. With plans to reach a 40% market share by 2035, solar certainly seems to be surging domestically, but hydrocarbons are still leading the charge as the world’s top oil consumers finally exceed pre-pandemic demand levels.

Global oil demand will reach a new high in 2025, barely eclipsing its 2019 record, but natural gas will overtake oil in 2032 and retain the top spot among primary energy sources through 2050, according to the latest Energy Transition Outlook 2021 released by DNV. As natural gas fills the demand gap left as coal demand falls by 62% through 2050, the Energy Transition Outlook still predicts the energy transition is moving too slowly to achieve the goal of slowing global warming sufficiently, unless more dramatic measures are taken.

Last week after crude oil prices saw their biggest week of losses in over nine months with the surging Delta variant, this week saw quite the opposite. In fact, crude oil is currently set for the largest weekly gain since October fueled by the highest demand levels since March 2020. As crude oil prices made an abrupt U-turn this week for the better, natural gas joined in on the action as U.S. natural gas futures for September delivery rose 7.4% to a 32-month high.

It’s Big Oil vs Biden in another round of To Drill Or Not To Drill! In January, the newly elected president paused drilling auctions in order to review the environmental impact and value to taxpayers. However, the evaluation, which was expected to be completed by now, remains ongoing causing backlash from oil firms across the country. This week, Big Oil sued the Biden Administration in the federal court of western Louisiana, arguing the government is required by law to hold regular sales. While this is not Biden’s first call to court since the January pause, we will see who wins this round of To Drill Or Not To Drill.