The biggest oil-producing region in the United States, the Permian, is expected to add around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) annually to its crude production over the next few years, Willie Chiang, Chairman and CEO at Plains All American Pipeline, said this week.
"We expect the basin to add approximately 600,000 barrels a day annually for the next several years, and our asset base built over decades is well-positioned to capture future growth with meaningful operating leverage and modest capital requirements," Chiang said on the pipeline giant's Q4 earnings call on Wednesday.
"Over the longer term, we expect that North American Energy Supply will continue to play a key role in meeting global demand growth and the Permian is positioned to drive a vast majority of U.S. production growth," the executive added.
Crude oil production in the Permian basin exceeded Plains All American Pipeline's expectations for 2021, and exited the year at around 5 million bpd oil production, some 540,000 bpd more compared to the year-end 2020, Chiang noted.
Crude oil production in the Permian reached a record-high in December 2021, averaging 4.92 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in January.
But the top shale play in the United States was seen boosting output even higher, to 4.996 million bpd in January and 5.076 million bpd in February, EIA data in the latest Drilling Productivity Report for January showed. The 5-million-bpd production makes the Permian alone a bigger producer than any OPEC member except Saudi Arabia.
Total crude oil production in the United States is expected to reach 12.6 million bpd in 2023, which would be a record high on an annual-average basis, the EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook earlier this week. The administration raised the 2023 production estimate by 200,000 bpd from last month's forecast. The previous annual average record of U.S. crude oil production at 12.3 million bpd was set in 2019.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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