both June and in July in response to rising global oil demand and seasonal increases in oil consumption for power generation for some OPEC members . It also reflects an assumption that Iran ’ s crude oil production will continue to increase this year . Although sanctions that target Iran ’ s crude oil exports remain in place , crude oil exports — according to ClipperData , LLC .— and production from Iran are up from most of 2020 .
According to our most recent data , U . S . crude oil production averaged 11.2 million b / d in March 2021 , an increase of 1.4 million b / d from February . The March rise indicates that the production outages caused by the February winter freeze were temporary and that production came back online quickly . Because prices of West Texas Intermediate crude oil remain above $ 60 / b during 2021 in the current forecast , we expect that producers will drill and complete enough wells to raise 2022 production from 2021 levels . We estimate that 2022 production will average 11.8 million b / d , up from a forecast average of 11.1 million b / d in 2021 .
In May , the natural gas spot price at Henry Hub averaged $ 2.91 per million British thermal units ( MMBtu ), which is up from the April average of $ 2.66 / MMBtu . We expect the Henry Hub spot price will average $ 2.92 / MMBtu in 3Q21 and $ 3.07 / MMBtu for all of 2021 , which is up from the 2020 average of $ 2.03 / MMBtu . Higher natural gas prices this year primarily reflect two factors : growth in liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) exports and rising domestic natural gas consumption outside of the power sector . In 2022 , we expect the Henry Hub price will average $ 2.93 / MMBtu amid slowing growth in LNG exports and rising U . S . natural gas production .
We expect that U . S . consumption of natural gas will average 82.9 billion cubic feet per day ( Bcf / d ) in 2021 , down 0.5 % from 2020 . U . S . natural gas consumption declines in the forecast , in part , because electric power generators switch to coal from natural gas as a result of rising natural gas prices . In 2021 , we expect residential and commercial natural gas consumption combined will rise by 1.2 Bcf / d from 2020 and industrial consumption will rise by 0.7 Bcf / d from 2020 . Rising consumption outside of the power sector results from expanding economic activity and colder winter temperatures in 2021 compared with 2020 . We expect U . S . natural gas consumption will average 82.8 Bcf / d in 2022 .
We estimate that natural gas inventories ended May 2021 at almost 2.4 trillion cubic feet ( Tcf ), which is 3 % lower than the five-year ( 2016 – 20 ) average . More natural gas was withdrawn from storage during the winter of 2020 – 21 than the
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