Seven major U.S. shale regions continue to produce record amounts of oil, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration, although July’s forecast is only 8,000 barrels per day higher than June. That’s the smallest increase since December 2022. EIA said June 12 in its latest drilling productivity report seven regions are expected to produce 9.375 million b/d of crude oil in July after 9.367 million b/d in June.
Permian Basin remains the top region with a record 5.763 million b/d of crude in July, but that’s only 1,000 b/d ahead of June for the smallest growth since February. Bakken is expected to produce the best growth of 7,000 b/d in July to reach 1.214 million b/d. Eagle Ford is expected to decline by 5,000 b/d to 1.117 million b/d.
In the July forecast for natural gas, EIA said Permian will produce the largest increase of 60 million cubic feet per day to 22.878 billion cfd. The seven regions are expected to produce 97.342 billion cfd for an increase of 84 million cfd over June. Appalachia is the leader with 35.366 billion cfd in July – an increase of 25 million cfd over June.
And EIA said the number of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUC) continues to decline. In the seven regions there were 4,834 DUC wells in May – down 30 from April. Permian’s count of DUC wells for May was 880 – down from 909 in April.