BloombergNEF projects US data centers to surpass most countries in natural gas consumption by 2035

America’s data centers are on track to consume more natural gas than nearly every nation on Earth within a decade. BloombergNEF’s latest outlook projects US data center-related natural gas demand will grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by 2035, a figure that would exceed the total gas consumption of all countries except China, Russia, Iran, and the United States itself.

That 15 Bcf/d figure is more than double BNEF’s previous estimate of 6.9 Bcf/d from December 2025. In roughly seven months, the forecasters looked at the same landscape and concluded they’d been thinking too small by half.

The numbers behind the surge

BNEF’s updated July 2026 outlook paints a picture of infrastructure buildout that reads more like wartime mobilization than normal capacity planning. US data center power demand is now expected to hit 118 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2030, a 52% increase over the December 2025 projection. By 2035, that number climbs to 194 GW, representing an 83% jump compared to the earlier forecast.

BNEF has tracked up to 124 GW of announced behind-the-meter natural gas capacity for data centers. That’s generation capacity built right at the facility, bypassing the traditional grid entirely. Only about 56% of that announced capacity is tied to specific commissioning dates in BNEF’s base scenarios.

Grid bottlenecks are creating a parallel energy system

The price of new combined-cycle gas turbine plants has jumped 66% in just two years, climbing from under $1,500 per kilowatt in 2023 to $2,157 per kilowatt in 2025. Build times are also lengthening, and turbine shortages are adding further pressure. The manufacturers who make these machines, companies like GE Vernova and Siemens Energy, are facing order books that stretch years into the future.

The BNEF projections reference EIA country-consumption benchmarks to contextualize the scale. When a single industry in a single country is projected to consume more gas than all but four nations, it signals a fundamental shift in how global energy flows are allocated.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.