NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by about 83,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June to a fresh peak of about 8.49 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly drilling productivity report on Monday.
One of the largest changes is forecast in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, where output is expected to climb by 56,000 bpd to a new record of about 4.17 million bpd in June. That would be the biggest increase since February.
In North Dakota’s Bakken region, production is expected to jump by 16,000 bpd to a record of 1.42 million bpd while in the Eagle Ford, output is expected to slide by about 942 bpd to 1.43 million bpd.
A shale revolution and production increases particularly from the Permian basin and the Bakken have helped make the United States the biggest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Major oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are boosting their presence in shale, particularly in the Permian, the largest U.S. shale oil field.
Separately, U.S. natural gas output was projected to increase to a record 80.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in June, the EIA said. That would be up 0.9 bcfd over the May forecast and mark a fifth consecutive monthly increase. A year ago in June, output was 68.2 bcfd.
The EIA projected gas output would increase in most of the big shale basins in June, except Anadarko in Oklahoma and Texas and Eagle Ford in Texas.
Output in the Appalachia region in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, the nation’s biggest shale gas play, was set to rise almost 0.4 bcfd to a record 32.1 bcfd in June. Appalachia production was 27.5 bcfd in June a year ago.
The EIA said producers drilled 1,364 wells and completed 1,407, the most since January 2015, in the biggest shale basins in April, leaving total drilled but uncompleted wells down 43 at 8,390, according to data going back to December 2013.
That was the biggest decline in drilled but uncompleted wells since March 2018 when they fell by 104.
Get your copy of the EIA drilling monthly productivity report HERE
Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Adler
