Oil output from top shale regions in the United States is due to rise by about 77,300 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 9.38 million bpd in February, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report.
U.S. crude oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. shale oil basin, is set to rise by about 30,400 bpd to 5.64 million bpd in February, its highest on record, the EIA projected. In the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, the EIA forecast oil output next month will rise 20,000 bpd to 1.23 million bpd, the largest total since November 2020.
In the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, output will rise about 4,200 bpd to 1.21 million bpd in February, its highest total volume since April 2020.
Total natural gas output in the big shale basins will increase 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to a record 96.7 bcfd in February, the EIA forecast.
In the biggest shale gas basin, Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, output will rise to 35.4 bcfd in February, the highest since hitting a record 36.2 bcfd in December 2021.
Gas output in the Permian and the Haynesville in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas will rise to record highs of 21.7 bcfd and 16.6 bcfd in February, respectively.
The EIA said producers drilled 1,011 wells in December, the most since March 2020. Total drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells rose by 40 to 4,577 in December, the most since August 2022.
