U.S. oil production may set records

U.S. total oil production, already off to a fast start, is likely on track to set another record for 2019. New records are expected when the final numbers for May emerge and at the end of the year, according to Rystad Energy, an energy research and business intelligence company. Rystad is raising its forecast for U.S. crude output to 13.4M barrels per day (bpd) by December 2019. For May, research and calculations point to crude oil production averaging 12.5M bpd. Both are all-time highs. “Strong growth persists in the Permian Basin on both the New Mexico and the Texas sides,” says Bjørnar Tonhaugen, head of Oil Market Research at Rystad. The firm’s projection is that Texas production will exceed 5M bpd at some point in the second quarter of 2019. Gulf of Mexico production may reach 1.95M bpd by the end of 2019 - up 135,000 bpd – and partly due to an early start-up of Shell’s Appomattox field. But, Rystad Energy expects crude oil prices to stay flat in the near term. Its report estimates OPEC production of 29.9M bpd for May, the lowest monthly level in over five years, and 2.6M bpd below October 2018’s levels. For 2019 the forecast is for OPEC crude production of 30.3M bpd - down 1.6M million from last year. Rystad is also lowering its projections for Saudi Arabia from 10.6M bpd to about 10.3M million. (Source: Marine Link 06/07/19)