Monday, October 1, 2012

Thanks to Eagle Ford Shale, oil output in Texas surged to a 23-year high in July

Monthly oil production in Texas reached a 23-year high in July, when the state produced almost 60 million barrels of crude oil, the highest output in any month since March of 1989 according to new data from the Department of Energy (see chart above).  On a daily basis, Texas produced an average of 1.925 million barrels every day in July, the highest daily output of Texas crude since February 1991.
The exponential increases in Texas crude oil over the last two years have been largely the result of the dramatic increases in oil being produced in the state’s 400-mile long Eagle Ford shale formation in south central Texas, which was only recently discovered in 2008.  Eagle Ford crude production has more than doubled over the last year, from 120,532 barrels per day in July 2011 to more than 310,000 barrels per day in July of this year, according to a recent Reuters report, and now accounts for about 16% of the state’s monthly oil output.  Advanced drilling technologies like hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have also contributed to an almost doubling of the Lone Star State’s oil production over the last three years.   At the current exponential pace of production increases, it’s possible that Texas will set a new record for state oil output by the end of next year, surpassing the previous record output set in the early 1980s of 2.6 million barrels per day.

Read more: http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/09/thanks-to-eagle-ford-shale-oil-output-in-texas-surged-to-a-23-year-high-in-july-bringing-jobs-and-prosperity-to-the-state/

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