Permian oil output forecast to hit record high in April -EIA

Dust blows around a crude oil pump jack and flare burning excess gas at a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S. November 25, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant

NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) – Oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. shale oil basin, is due to rise 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 5.208 million bpd in April, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report on Monday.

Total output in the major U.S. shale oil basins will rise 117,000 bpd to 8.708 million bpd in April, the most since March 2020, EIA projected.

In the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, EIA projected oil output will rise 16,000 bpd to 1.188 million bpd in April, the most since December 2020.

In the Eagle Ford in South Texas, output will rise 23,000 bpd to 1.146 million bpd in April, its highest since April 2020.

Total natural gas output in the big shale basins will increase 0.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to a record 92.3 bcfd in April, EIA forecast.

In the biggest shale gas basin, output in Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia will rise about 0.2 bcfd to a record 36.5 bcfd in April.

Gas output in the Permian and the Haynesville in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas will also rise to record highs of 20.3 bcfd and 14.6 bcfd in April, respectively.

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But productivity in the biggest oil and gas basins has declined since setting records of new oil well production per rig of 1,545 bpd in December 2020 in the Permian, and new gas well production per rig of 33.3 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in March 2021 in Appalachia.

In April, EIA expects new oil well production per rig will drop to 1,157 bpd in the Permian, the lowest since August 2020, and new gas well production per rig will drop to 29.9 mmcfd in Appalachia, the lowest since October 2020.

EIA said producers drilled 775 wells and completed 931, both the most since March 2020, in the biggest shale basins in February.

That left total drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells down 156 to 4,372, the lowest since at least December 2013, according to EIA data going back that far. The number of DUCs available has fallen for 20 consecutive months.