U.S. shale oil production to rise to 7.6 million barrels per day in October

(Reuters) – Oil output from seven major shale formations in the United States is expected to rise by 79,000 barrels per day to 7.6 million bpd in October, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday.

Surging oil output from shale formations boosted total U.S. crude production to a record high of nearly 10.7 million barrels a day in June, the latest month for which data is available.

Production is expected to rise 31,000 bpd in the Permian formation of Texas and New Mexico, the agency said in a monthly report.

Output from five other major shale formations is expected to rise in the month. Output in the Haynesville shale, the smallest of the seven formations that the EIA tracks, was expected to be unchanged at 43,000 bpd in the month.

Production per rig from new wells was expected to rise in all formations except for the Permian Basin, where it was expected to decline by nine barrels a day.

Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production was projected to increase to a record 73.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in October. That would be up almost 1 bcfd over the September forecast and would be the ninth monthly increase in a row.

In October 2017 output was just 60.3 bcfd.

The EIA projected gas output would increase in all the big shale basins in October.

Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest shale gas play, was set to rise almost 0.3 bcfd to a record high of 29.4 bcfd in October. Production in Appalachia was 24.2 bcfd in the same month a year ago.

EIA said producers drilled 1,520 wells and completed 1,282 in the biggest shale basins in August, leaving total drilled but uncompleted wells up 238 at a record high 8,269, according to data going back to December 2013.

That was the most wells drilled and completed in a month since early 2015, according to EIA data.

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