Major U.S. Tight Oil-Producing States Expected To Drive Production Gains Through 2018

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration on January 31, 2017 ---- The January Short-Term Energy Outlook, U.S. crude oil production is forecast to increase from an average of 8.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2016 to an average of 9.3 million b/d in 2018, primarily as a result of gains in the major U.S. tight oil-producing states: Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Of these states, Texas and North Dakota will continue to be the largest producers of crude oil because of the large amounts of economically recoverable resources in the Eagle Ford, Permian, and Bakken regions. As defined in EIA's Drilling Productivity Report, the Permian region makes up a large geographic area with producing zones each more than 1,000 feet thick and with multiple stacked plays. Because of its large geographic size, the Permian offers a lot of potential for testing and drilling, and the multiple stacked plays allow producers to continue to drill both vertical wells and hydraulically fractured horizontal wells. For more on major U.S. tight oil producing states expected to drive production gains through 2018 click on the picture below to read more from U.S. Energy Information Administration.