Friday, July 27, 2012

Energy Fact of the Day: U.S. Crude Oil Production (ex-Alaska) Reaches a 23-Year High in June

One of the more interesting items buried in today's 213-page Monthly Energy Review from the EIA (full report here) is the fact that U.S. crude oil production for the lower 48 states is estimated to have reached a 23-year high in June of 5.74 million barrels per day (see chart above, data here).  That would be the highest monthly crude oil production in the lower 48 states since 5.76 million daily barrels of oil were produced in June of 1989.  During the first half of 2012, the EIA estimates that oil production in the non-Alaska states increased almost 13% compared to the same period last year, boosted by the strong, ongoing gains in North Dakota shale oil (+67% year-to-date through May) and Texas shale oil (+17% year-to-date through May).

Thanks to advances in technology (fracking and horizontal drilling), domestic oil production has been increasing since 2010, reversing a quarter-century downward trend in U.S. oil production that started in the mid-1980s (see chart above).  Over the last year, we've seen one of the largest annual increases in domestic oil production (in the 48 states) in the history of monthly EIA data on U.S. oil production going back to 1973.

America's booming energy sector, especially the increased production related to shale oil and gas, is America's "economic bright spot" right now, and continues to get better and brighter all the time.  As weak as economic growth is right now, imagine what the state of the current U.S. economy would be like if we didn't have the booming oil and gas industry that is bringing energy prosperity and shovel-ready jobs to states like North Dakota, Texas and Pennsylvania.  Without the game-changing, $1 billion per day energy stimulus to America, it's possible that the U.S. economy would have entered another recession by now.   

9 Comments:

At 7/27/2012 5:48 PM, Blogger Rufus II said...

Sorry, but when you account for the 480,000 bbl/day overestimation of Texas Production it doesn't get there.

 
At 7/27/2012 10:37 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Don't forget that the United State mandates and subsidizes 802,000 barrels a day of ethanol production.

No, the market doesn't want the ethanol. It is by federal diktat.

About 10 days of ethanol production takes more out of this nation's pocketbook than the entire Solyndra debacle.

Every 10 days.

 
At 7/28/2012 2:45 AM, Blogger marmico said...

RRC shows 1,088,237 bbl/day.

RRC originally reported December 2010 oil production as 999,959 bbl/day. If you read the press release carefully, you will note that the RRC attempts to account for the pendings with a production adjustment factor. But that factor has been understated for many years.

From the RRC link accessed today I get 1,265,000 bbl/day, including condensate. Can't get much more accurate, given the number of producing wells, on an apples-to-apples comparison to the EIA.

 
At 7/28/2012 8:23 AM, Blogger Rufus II said...

So, RRC has adjusted its Dec '10 production Up by 8.8%, but it's still 19.4% Below EIA's number.

I think we're getting there. :)

 
At 7/28/2012 6:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Condensate is essentially very light oil. It's oil in the same sense that evaporated water (or perhaps morning dew) is still water, even though it's in a semi-gaseous state. But there are some chemical differences as well. Historically it's been used as a gasoline substitute.

 
At 7/28/2012 6:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

BTW, on the TRRC website I just found a graph showing yearly condensate production.

LINK

2011 shows about 57 million barrels.
+ 2010 TRCC oil production is about 369 million barrels.
-----------------------------------
= So, 2010 TRRC crude & condensate production is about 426 million barrels.

Compare that with the EIA's 2010 Texas c&c production number of 429 million barrels and you see they're about the same.

So I believe this solves the mystery of the TRRC-EIA discrepancy. You have to add in the TRRC's yearly condensate numbers, and you have to wait about a year-and-a-half for the final TRCC oil production numbers.

 
At 7/28/2012 6:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"2011 shows about 57 million barrels."

Oops, that was for 2010.

 
At 7/29/2012 10:05 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

So when is this so called expansion in production going to lead to relief at the fuel pump???

 
At 7/29/2012 1:57 PM, Blogger bart said...

So when is this so called expansion in production going to lead to relief at the fuel pump???

Don't hold your breath, peak cheap oil has arrived... but the upcoming recession will drop it for a while, assuming things don't get nasty in the middle east.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home