EIA: U.S. Shale Production To See Sizeable Increase In May

U.S. Shale production in the seven most prolific shale basins is set to increase 132,000 bpd in May to 8.649 million bpd, according to the Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report published on Monday.

It would be the largest monthly production increase since March 2020, according to EIA data.

The largest increase is expected to come from the Permian basin, increasing just 82,000 bpd from an estimated 5.055 million bpd in April 2022 to 5.137 million bpd next month. The EIA has forecast that the second largest gainer will be the Eagle Ford, which it expects will see an increase of 26,000 bpd, to 1.166 million bpd in May.

Source: EIA DPR

The EIA also estimated in the Drilling Productivity Report that Drilled but Uncompleted (DUC) wells had slipped from 4,387 in February to 4,273 in March—the lowest it’s been in over a decade. The DUC count has been steadily declining in each of the previous 21 months, since July 2020 when the DUC count was nearly double what it is today.

Gas production is also set to increase in May 2022, from 90,105 mcf/d in April to 90,826 mcf/d in May, with the largest gains seen from Haynesville (245 mcf/d) and Appalachia (+197 mcf/d).

U.S. shale production has found itself in the spotlight since gasoline prices began rising last fall, as end consumers continue to bemoan high gasoline prices. The scrutiny on the industry has only intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, as Russian crude and gas buyers look for alternate suppliers for their energy needs.

In the EIA’s previous DPR, the agency had estimated that total production from the seven major U.S. shale basins would rise by 117,000 in April to reach 8.708 million bpd—191,000 bpd above where April figures actually landed.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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