Bloomberg reported last week that Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources was the first prominent U.S. oil producer to publicly say it will ramp up production as the U.S.-Israeli war continues in Iran. CEO Doug Lawler told Bloomberg Friday, “Continental is increasing our capital budget, which will increase production.” Crude oil prices are their highest in four years because the war has crippled supplies from the Persian Gulf.
Lawler did not say how much the company is increasing production. Continental, which has operations in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming, produced 475,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025Q4 (43 percent from Bakken in North Dakota, 23 percent from Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico). Continental’s capital budget for 2026 was announced at $2.5 billion, which would be a 20 percent reduction from 2025.
Alex Ljubojevic of research firm Enverus said it will take months to see increased production from shale fields in oilfields such as Permian Basin because of the lead time required to drill, frac and turn on new wells. The production boost initially will come from DUC wells (drilled but not completed). “You will definitely see operators that can bring forward those DUCs just to get those volumes online,” he said.