On Monday, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its monthly productivity report that in October, the country’s shale oil output would likely post the first decline since May.
Oil output from seven major shale formations is estimated to fall by roughly 68,000 bpd to 7.64 million bpd.
The EIA expected that every shale formation, aside from the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico, would see the output drops. The biggest fall would likely come from the Eagle Ford basin in South Texas by almost 28,000 bpd to 1.13 million bpd.
On the contrary, the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico is projected to see an increase in output by around 23,000 bpd to 4.17 million bpd. The figure would be the smallest climb since production slumped in May.
At the moment, the US oil prices are still down by about 40% from the start of 2020 but have gained back almost 100% over the past five months, to roughly USD37/barrel on optimism on the lifting of lockdowns. In recent weeks, some energy companies have been encouraged by higher oil prices to start adding rigs.
Separately, the US natural gas output is estimated to decrease for a second consecutive month to 80.6 bcfd next month. The country’s biggest shale gas formation, Appalachia, would likely see a drop in production for a third straight month to 32.8 bcfd, down by 0.2 bcfd month-on-month.
