In a new paper, Michael Cohen and Warren Russell, analysts at Barclay’s Research, say U.S. oil and gas production may be on the verge of significantly expanding, after months of decline due to low oil prices.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports oil production is increasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, and Cohen and Russell see this as part of a larger move saying the latest data indicate oil production in the shale fields of Oklahoma, Texas and North Dakota are also ramping up again.
EIA’s December 27, 2016 Petroleum Supply Monthly report shows increases from key shale oil fields that Cohen and Russell say are significant enough to suggest a larger trend is in the works.
U.S. oil output expanded by 230,000 barrels a day in October with offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico leading the way, with production in the Gulf and Alaska accounting for half of October oil output increase. However, as the Barclay analysts note, oil rigs have also been flowing back to the Permian Basin of West Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota, with the latter leading the lower 48 oil producing states in terms of increased production, producing an additional 72,000 barrels a day October. By comparison, Texas’s production increased by approximately 23,000 barrels a day, while Oklahoma’s oil production grew by 12,000 barrels a day in October.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is the managing editor of Environment & Climate News.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News.
