19 June 2018, News Wires — U.S. crude production from major shale formations is expected to rise 141,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July from the previous month to a record 7.34 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly productivity report.
Output from the Permian, the largest U.S. oil patch, is expected to surge 73,000 bpd to a new high of 3.35 million bpd in July, the data showed.
Production increases in the Permian have led the surge in U.S. crude production but have recently run into infrastructure constraints. Pipelines to the Gulf Coast from the basin, spanning West Texas and eastern New Mexico, have filled to capacity.
Oil production from Anadarko region in Oklahoma and North Texas is expected to rise by 10,000 bpd to a record 549,000 bpd while Bakken production is expected to jump 19,000 bpd to an all-time high of 1.29 million bpd.
Other regions forecast to see increases include the Eagle Ford, where production is expected to rise by 32,000 bpd to 1.40 million bpd, the highest since January 2016.Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production was projected to increase to a record 69.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in July. That would be up more than 1.1 bcfd over the June forecast and would be the sixth monthly increase in a row.
A year ago in July output was just 57.5 bcfd.
The EIA projected gas output would increase in all the big shale basins in July.
Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest shale gas play, was set to rise almost 0.4 bcfd to a record high of 28.9 bcfd in July. Production in Appalachia was 23.8 bcfd in the same month a year ago.
EIA said producers drilled 1,316 wells and completed 1,285 in the biggest shale basins in May, leaving total drilled but uncompleted wells up 31 at a record high 7,772, according to data going back to December 2013.
That was the most wells drilled and completed in a month since March 2015, according to EIA data.
