US oil output from 7 shale plays expected at 8.97mn bpd in Nov

• The largest formation, the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, is expected to add 63,000 bpd to 4.547 million bpd, the tenth consecutive increase.
• Oil production of new wells per rig has risen in most regions since the start of the year.
• Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest US shale gas formation, was set to rise about 0.1 bcfd to a record 33.3 bcfd.

NEW YORK: US oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise 58,000 barrels per day in November to a record 8.971 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration said in a monthly forecast on Tuesday.

The largest formation, the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, is expected to add 63,000 bpd to 4.547 million bpd, the tenth consecutive increase. Production declines are forecast in the Eagle Ford and Anadarko basins.

Even though the number of rigs drilling new wells in the Permian and Bakken has declined since the start of the year, output in both basins has increased as the productivity of those rigs reached record levels.

Oil production of new wells per rig has risen in most regions since the start of the year.

Separately, US natural gas output was projected to increase to a record 84.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in November.

That would be up over 0.3 bcfd over the October forecast, putting production from the big shale basins up for a tenth month in a row even though the number of rigs in each region has declined since the start of the year.

Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest US shale gas formation, was set to rise about 0.1 bcfd to a record 33.3 bcfd.

The EIA said producers drilled 1,184 wells, the least since February 2018, and completed 1,390 in the biggest shale basins in September, leaving total drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells down 206 to 7,740, the lowest since November 2018.

That was the biggest monthly decline in DUCs on record, according to EIA data going back to December 2013.