A new study commissioned by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute says the state’s oil and gas industry is expected to continue to grow at a record pace, but billions of dollars of investments in new infrastructure will be needed to get the commodities to market. The report was presented to state lawmakers Tuesday at a meeting in Roswell. Analysts estimate it will require $174 billion in new infrastructure to keep pace with expected growth through 2030, including new pipelines, access roads, well pad construction, processing plants and refineries. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said it expects U.S. production to reach 12.3 million barrels of crude a day in 2019 and 13.3 million b/d in 2020 – both records. Much of the increase will come from the Permian Basin. Production value in New Mexico is expected to increase from $17 billion in 2017 to $72.6 billion in 2030.
Economists from state agencies and the legislature said last week at a meeting in Red River that general fund income for the state’s coming fiscal year is expected to surpass current annual spending by $907 million. Total revenue is projected at just under $8 billion – an increase of 12.8 percent from the current year’s budget. The Santa Fe New Mexican said technological improvements and lower costs in the Permian are putting New Mexico on track to produce almost 400 million barrels of crude oil annually by next budget year – more than five times the production in the state between 1980 and 2010.