U.S. oil output from top shale-producing regions is set to fall for a third month in a row in November to its lowest since May, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its monthly Drilling Productivity Report on Monday.
U.S. oil output is expected to fall to 9.553 million barrels per day (bpd) in November from 9.604 million bpd in October, EIA data showed.
Crude output in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. shale oil basin, is expected to fall by about 30,000 bpd to 5.9 million bpd, the lowest since February.
Crude production in the South Texas Eagle Ford region is due to fall by 19,000 bpd to 1.12 million bpd, the lowest since January.
However, production in the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana is due to rise 190 bpd to 1.27 million bpd, the highest since March 2020.
Total natural gas output in the big shale basins will fall by 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 98.8 bcfd in November from 99.3 bcfd in October, EIA projected.
That puts gas output on track to fall for a record fourth month in a row, according to EIA data going back to 2007, and compares with a monthly record of 99.9 bcfd in July.
In the biggest shale gas basin, Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, output is set to slide to 35.5 bcfd in November, its lowest since April. Appalachia output hit a record 36.0 bcfd in December 2021.
EIA said producers drilled 865 wells in September, the lowest since February 2022, and completed 919, the lowest since April 2022.
Total drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells fell by 54 to 4,681 in September, the lowest since March 2014.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
