Bloomberg says Exxon Mobil and Chevron have seen stock prices fall recently, but the two oil majors are focusing spending on Permian Basin “where they can build on growing domination and productivity… Nowhere are the rivals competing more intensely than in the oil-rich lands of west Texas, where companies are producing 4.8 million barrels of oil a day. Exxon and Chevron are pumping millions of dollars per year into the Permian Basin of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. Together they keep the Permian’s output rising as smaller companies pull drilling rigs from the field.”
Chevron’s output is above 510,000 barrels a day, Bloomberg said last week, and it aims to hit at least 600,000 barrels a day this year. Exxon is churning out nearly 300,000 barrels daily from the Permian with plans to exceed 500,000 barrels by yearend. Both are using assembly-line approaches to drill more wells more quickly. Bloomberg added, “Within five years each of the companies expects to produce about 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from the basin.”