Despite lower oil prices and the slowdown in US shale oil, oil production in Texas will continue to rise this year according to Rystad Energy, a business intelligence and energy research firm.
While oil output in the state is currently estimated at just 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) for last December, Rystad believes that close to a million bpd remains unreported based on its analysis of activity trends and reporting delays. This would fit in with the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) figure of 5.329 million bpd for November, the latest month for which it has published data.
November’s oil production already set a new record for the state, but Alexandre Ramos-Peon, a senior shale analyst at Rystad Energy, believes December may have set another new record, saying in a press release:
“We see a monthly addition of 70,000 bpd in December in Texas. A flat oil production would be the most conservative scenario.”
The Eagle Ford region seems to be mostly responsible for the rise, although producers in the Permian Basin also appear to be still gaining momentum. Rystad also predicts production to continue rising almost every month this year.
The rate of growth is expected to slow down in the coming months, however, as base decline steepens and new production activity reduces. Rystad also say its preliminary data suggests a 50,000-bpd outage for ExxonMobil, the oil major behind Mobil products like hydraulic oil, in December and points to possible production irregularities in many of the company’s Permian producing leases.
