American shale oil output forecast to fall by record amount in May – EIA
Drop of 114,000 b/d to 4.84 million b/d will be record oil production decline
The 21-month long oil price decline is having a bigger than expected effect on American shale oil production, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Output is dropping for the seventh month in a row, 114,000 barrels per day to 4.84 million b/d, says the EIA’s drilling productivity report.
The Drilling Productivity Report uses recent data on the total number of drilling rigs in operation along with estimates of drilling productivity and estimated changes in production from existing oil and natural gas wells to provide estimated changes in oil and natural gas production for seven key regions.
EIA’s approach does not distinguish between oil-directed rigs and gas-directed rigs because once a well is completed it may produce both oil and gas; more than half of the wells produce both.
While shale resources and production are found in many U.S. regions, at this time EIA is focusing on the seven most prolific areas, which are located in the Lower 48 states.
These seven regions accounted for 92 per cent of domestic oil production growth and all domestic natural gas production growth during 2011-14.
New-well oil production per rig b/d New-well gas production per rig
(thousand cubic feet/day)
Region | April 2016 | May 2016 | change | April 2016 | May 2016 | change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bakken | 757 | 767 | 10 | 957 | 966 | 9 | |
Eagle Ford | 840 | 852 | 12 | 2,829 | 2,838 | 9 | |
Haynesville | 27 | 27 | – | 5,406 | 5,476 | 70 | |
Marcellus | 65 | 65 | – | 10,851 | 10,987 | 136 | |
Niobrara | 863 | 885 | 22 | 2,544 | 2,609 | 65 | |
Permian | 458 | 468 | 10 | 838 | 846 | 8 | |
Utica | 319 | 331 | 12 | 7,036 | 7,115 | 79 | |
Rig-weighted average | 541 | 532 | (9) | 2,690 | 2,836 | 146 |
Oil production Gas Production
thousand b/d million cubic feet/day
Region | April 2016 | May 2016 | change | April 2016 | May 2016 | change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bakken | 1,078 | 1,047 | (31) | 1,633 | 1,601 | (32) | |
Eagle Ford | 1,246 | 1,184 | (62) | 6,405 | 6,192 | (213) | |
Haynesville | 48 | 47 | (1) | 6,099 | 6,036 | (63) | |
Marcellus | 41 | 41 | – | 17,337 | 17,277 | (60) | |
Niobrara | 420 | 404 | (16) | 4,217 | 4,134 | (83) | |
Permian | 2,036 | 2,032 | (4) | 7,064 | 7,023 | (41) | |
Utica | 81 | 81 | – | 3,665 | 3,666 | 1 | |
Total | 4,950 | 4,836 | (114) | 46,420 | 45,929 | (491) |