North Dakota and Texas account for nearly half of US crude production

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), US crude production was 8.4 million bpd in April 2014. Two states, Texas and North Dakota, accounted for nearly half of this total.

Texas production was equivalent to over 3.0 million bpd for the first time since the late 1970s, more than doubling production in the past three years. North Dakota production exceeded 1.0 million bpd for the first time in history, nearly tripling its production over the same period.

Combined crude oil production volumes from the two states reached 4.0 million bpd. From April 2010 to April 2014, crude oil production volumes grew at average annual rates of 37% and 28%, respectively, compared to 2% average annual growth in the rest of the US. During this period, the combined share of total US crude oil production for North Dakota and Texas rose from 26% to 48%. In comparison, the Gulf of Mexico’s crude oil production share declined from 27% to 17%.

The EIA has outlined that the gains in Texas crude oil production come primarily from countries that contain unconventional tight oil and shale reservoirs in the Eagle Ford Shale in the Western Gulf Basin, where drilling has increasingly targeted oil rich area, and multiple reservoirs within the Permian Basin in West Texas that have seen a significant increase in horizontal, oil directed drilling.

North Dakota’s increased production comes primarily from counties that contain the Bakken formation in the Williston Basin, where crude oil production growth has instigated a rise in crude by rail transportation. Since April 2011, the largest monthly average increase in production has come from the Eagle Ford, with an average monthly increase exceeding 32 000 bpd, more than twice the 14 000 bpd increase in the Permian. Production from the Bakken increased 19 000 bpd on average each month over the same period.

Adapted from a press release by Emma McAleavey.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/01072014/us_crude_oil_production_825/