America’s oil production has hit 10 million barrels a day much faster than previous estimates. The news was absorbed by the market, despite the nervousness after Tuesday’s big sell-off.
The country’s Energy Information Administration released monthly data up to last November overnight revealed that daily production averaged 10.38 million barrels a day the highest daily rate for 47 years.
That was a touch under the November 1970 figure, and compares to the daily average estimate in the weekly data for last week of 9.918 million barrels a day (b/d).
This surge means US output has more than doubled its low point of about 5 million b/d in 2008 and output from tight, or shale oil fields across the country has surged.
The Financial Times reported “For decades the only question was how fast are US oil imports going to rise,” said Daniel Yergin, vice-chairman of IHS Markit. “Now global oil markets have been put in a bottle and shaken up, and new patterns are emerging.” The US remains a net oil importer, but its purchases from other countries have fallen sharply.
The EIA said net imports of crude and petroleum products were down to 2.5 million b/d by last October, from a peak of 12.9 million b/d in 2006.
The news had no impact on oil prices which ended January in the green. Nor did a rise in weekly stocks of 6.8 million barrels to around 418 million barrels. It was the first weekly rise in almost three months.
March West Texas Intermediate crude rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $US64.73 a barrel in New York. On Tuesday, US crude slid 1.5% to $US64.50 a barrel, registering only the second back-to-back decline in January, amid fresh worries about mounting US crude production. Overall, the March contract rose 7.1%.
In London March Brent crude rose 3 cents to $US69.05 a barrel. The March contract, which expired at the session’s settlement, was up about 3.3% for the month of January. April Brent futures, the new front month, settled at $US68.89, up 37 cents, or 0.5%.
