This production estimate is 2.8% higher than last week's estimate and 6.6% higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2015.
East of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 6.5Mt while west of the Mississippi River coal production totaled 10.7Mt.
US year-to-date coal production totaled 657.5Mt, 18.8% lower than the comparable year-to-date coal production in 2015.
The EIA predicts that after declining for several months, the share of US electricity fueled by coal is expected to slowly begin growing when compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, the share of generation from natural gas is expected to experience year-over-year declines.
Based on expected temperatures and market conditions, coal is expected to surpass natural gas as the most common electricity generating fuel in December, January, and February.
