Production of oil and natural gas in the nation’s seven major producing regions is again forecast to decline in January 2021 by U.S. Energy Information Administration. In its drilling productivity report of Dec. 14, EIA said production of oil will decline by 137,000 barrels per day in January from December to 7.438 million b/d. Permian Basin leads the decline by falling 44,000 b/d to 4.196 million b/d in January from 4.240 million b/d in December.
Production of natural gas in the seven regions is forecast to decline by 744 million cubic feet per day in January to 80.777 billion cfd. That includes declines of 154 million cfd in Appalachia in January to 33.468 billion cfd and 157 million cfd in Permian in January to 16.744 billion cfd.
The counts of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUC) also continue to decline. EIA said there were 7,330 DUC wells in November 2020 in the seven regions – a decline of 144 DUC wells from October. In November there were 3,516 DUC wells in Permian Basin – down 20 from 3,536 DUC wells in October.