In a report released last month, U.S. Energy Information Administration said Midland Basin accounted for 15 percent of total crude oil production (1.68 million b/d) and 6 percent of total dry natural gas (5.4 billion cfd) in U.S. in 2020. In the past decade, exploration and production in Midland Basin, within Texas’ borders in eastern Permian Basin, was driven by organic-rich, lower-permeability units in Wolfcamp and Spraberry. Vertical drilling generated most of the basin’s production until mid-2010s. But with advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, shale intervals of Spraberry and Wolfcamp have become the main targets for E&P.
Midland Basin production reached a low during the pandemic of 1.5 million b/d of crude oil and 4.9 billion cfd of natural gas in May 2020, but production since has increased. At the end of July 2021, Enverus said 107 drilling rigs and 28 fracking crews operated in Midland Basin (44 percent of rigs in Permian Basin, 22 percent of rigs in U.S.). Midland Basin’s rig count fell to a low of 58 last summer.