*Freshly-released US stats show the country’s crude output was already on a decisive downward trend even before crude prices collapsed. March output of 12.72mn b/d was some 150,000 b/d below November 2019’s record 12.87mn b/d, with production having fallen every month in between. The ‘final’ March figure is also some 300,000 b/d lower than the 13mn b/d-plus production levels indicated by provisional weekly data. These provisional figures based on drilling activity appear to have substantially underestimated the recent output slump (MEES, 29 May).
*Of the key US oil producing regions, only the Permian shale basin of Texas and New Mexico saw output continue to rise beyond late-2019. Whilst the Permian notched up a further 100,000 b/d rise to a quarterly record 4.76mn b/d for Q1, and a monthly record 4.80mn b/d for March, the other two leading shale basins saw output peak in October – at 1.53mn b/d for the Bakken and 1.43mn b/d for Eagle Ford. A slew of key Permian producers notched up output records for Q1: from majors Chevron (580,000 boe/d) and ExxonMobil (352,000 boe/d), to key independents Pioneer (375,000 boe/d, 223,000 b/d oil) and Diamondback (321,000 boe/d, 201,000 b/d). (CONTINUED - 1009 WORDS)
