According to the latest productivity report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude oil production in the Permian Basin will hit a new record of 5.445 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, a rise of 78,000 bpd.
The Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico is the most productive shale oil basin in the United States, with it alone producing more oil than all but a handful of countries. While international oil majors like BP and ExxonMobil, the makers of Mobil and Castrol lubricant products, have a strong presence there, smaller operators have also participated in revolutionising the industry.
The EIA also expects the total production of shale oil from all the prominent basins to rise to 9.068 million bpd in the same month, the highest it has been since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the oil markets.
In the other major shale basins, the EIA forecasts that production in the Bakken of Montana and North Dakota will return to levels not seen since December 2020, at 1.192 million bpd, while the Eagle Ford shale play will see production rise to 1.205 million bpd – the most it has been since April 2020. Production is also expected to rise in the major shale gas fields.
The EIA indicates that productivity may have peaked, however, since a record was set in December 2020 of producing 1,545 bpd of crude oil per rig, with production from new rigs in the Permian expected to drop to 1,107 bpd.
