Permian Basin is forecast to be the only one of seven major producing regions in U.S. to grow its crude oil production in April, according to the drilling productivity report of March 16 from U.S. Department of Energy. Permian is expected to add 38,000 barrels per day in April compared to March to reach 4.792 million b/d. Across the seven regions, the increase for April is 18,000 b/d to 9.075 million b/d. Production in Appalachia and Haynesville is expected to be unchanged while declines are expected in Anadarko, Bakken, Eagle Ford and Niobrara.
Permian and Haynesville are the only regions expected to increase production of natural gas in April. Permian will grow by 209 million cubic feet per day to 17.171 billion cubic feet per day, and Haynesville will grow by 2 million to 12.447 billion cubic feet per day. Appalachia remains the gas leader with production of 32.555 billion cubic feet per day in April – down 231 million from March.
And the report shows that Permian continues to lead in drilled but uncompleted wells (DUC). There were 3,482 DUC wells in Permian in February – up 11 from 3,471 in January. There were 7,637 DUC wells in the seven regions in February – down 60 from 7,697 DUC wells in January.