U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall by 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020 to 11.39 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, a bigger decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 800,000 bpd.
U.S. crude oil production has recovered from the two-and-a-half-year lows touched in May mainly because shale producers have brought wells back online in response to rising prices.
However, the EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to generally decline to an average of 11 million bpd in the second quarter of 2021 because new drilling activity will not generate enough production to offset declines from existing wells. It expects drilling activity to rise later in 2021, reaching an average of about 11.3 million bpd in the fourth quarter.
Overall, U.S. crude output in 2021 is expected to fall by 290,000 bpd to 11.1 million bpd, compared with the EIA’s previous forecast for a decline of 360,000 bpd.
