The Star Permian Basin Sends US Shale Production Up, Up And Away

US oil production from the top seven major shale plays is set to reach new record heights in June, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest edition of its Drilling Productivity Report. 

Oil production

Production from the top seven plays will increase by 83,000 barrels per day in June from May 2019 levels, with the largest increase seen in the Permian Basin, which is set to increase from 4.117 million barrels of oil per day to 4.173 million barrels per day (+56,000). The second largest increasing region according to the report is the Bakken.

Gas production

Just as noteworthy, gas production is also set to increase in these seven plays, from 79.720 million cubic feet per day in May to 80.663 million cubic feet per day in June, with the Appalachia region seeing the largest increase, followed by Haynesville and then the Permian.

DUCs

The monthly productivity report also monitors drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs), which fell in April to 8,390 from 8,433 in March. Only one region saw any noteworthy increase in DUCs, and that was the Permian.

The Permian Has It

The Permian is set to increase not just oil and gas production in total, but new-well oil production per rig as well, more than offsetting the drop in legacy oil production in the region. The Permian basin now accounts for one third of the total crude oil output in the United States. And at the 4.173 million bpd the EIA is predicting for June, the Permian Basin, if it were a member of OPEC, would be the cartel’s No.3 producer, above the UAE (3.059 million bpd) and Kuwait (2.709 million bpd), and just slightly under OPEC’s No.2, Iraq (4.522 million bpd).

Source: EIA Monthly Drilling Productivity Report

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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