US monthly crude oil production reaches highest level since 1970

U.S. crude oil production in November 2017 reached 10.038 million barrels per day (b/d), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Petroleum Supply Monthly, the second-highest U.S. monthly oil production value ever.

November 2017 marks the first time production has surpassed 10 million b/d since November 1970, when it reached 10.044 million b/d.

Production in November 2017 reached a record high of 3.89 million b/d in Texas and hit 1.18 million b/d in North Dakota. Production in the Federal Gulf of Mexico grew 14 percent from the October 2017 to 1.67 million b/d, as the region recovered from Hurricane Nate.

EIA estimated that crude oil production from tight formations reached 5.09 million b/d, surpassing a previous high from March 2015 of 4.70 million b/d. EIA also noted that today liquid production from tight rock accounts for 51 percent of total production, while production from tight formations made up only seven percent in November 2008.

In June 2014, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices began to fall from $105 per barrel to a low of $30 per barrel in February 2016. By January 2018, prices had risen to approximately $60 a barrel. Although price fluctuations can impact tight oil production, EIA said, production continued to grow in the Spraberry, Bone Spring and Wolfcamp plays in western Texas and eastern New Mexico in the Permian Basin and in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana in the Bakken formation.