Energy

US Oil Production Continues Decline

Paul Ausick

Published: March 7, 2016 2:40 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:16 pm

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Monday released its March report on drilling productivity in seven key oil and gas producing regions of the U.S. Overall oil production is projected to decline by 106,000 barrels per day from 4.977 million barrels per day in March to 4.871 million barrels per day in April. Total production in February reached 5.016 million barrels a day.

New well production is expected to rise from an estimated 516,000 barrels a day in March to 528,000 barrels a day in April.

The largest decline is forecast for the Eagle Ford play in South Texas where production is expected to slip by 58,000 barrels a day. Production in the Bakken play in North Dakota and Montana is expected to drop by 28,000 barrels a day and Niobrara production is pegged to fall by 15,000 barrels a day. Production from the Permian Basin is forecast to fall by 4,000 barrels a day and the output from the Haynesville shale is expected to drop by 1,000 barrels per day. No change is expected at either the Marcellus or Utica shale plays that, like the Haynesville, are primarily natural gas producers.

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Natural gas production is expected to drop by 450 million cubic feet per day with Eagle Ford production down the most (182 million cubic feet). Utica shale gas production is forecast to rise by 22 million cubic feet per day.

WTI crude oil for April delivery traded at around $38.11 a barrel just ahead of the EIA report and slipped to around $37.70 per barrel following the report’s release. April crude closed at $35.92 on Friday.