Well Productivity Driving U.S. Oil Production Gains

December 13, 2024--Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Increased well productivity, rather than increased drilling, is helping to secure the United States as the top crude oil producer for the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. Energy Department found. U.S. crude oil production averaged 8.6 million barrels per day (BBL/d) in 2014. During the prior decade, analysts delved heavily into the rig counts supplied weekly by upstream services firm Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) (Houston, Texas) to identify future trends. This year, total crude oil production is expected to average 13.3 million BBL/d, and the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the data arm of the Energy Department, finds rig counts no longer tell the entire story.