U.S. crude oil production shattered a 47-year output record in November and retreated slightly in December, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, as oil production from shale continued to upend global supply patterns.
Oil output rose to 10.057 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in November, a revision from earlier estimates, the EIA said. December production fell 108,000 bbl/d to 9.949 million bbl/d, the it said.
November's figure exceeded the 10.044 million bbl/d of production in November 1970. Output has surged in the last several years thanks to the shale boom, pushing the U.S. past Saudi Arabia among top producers. Only Russia now has greater daily oil output.
The new record likely won't last. The U.S. government forecasts that production will hit 11 million bbl/d later this year.
"We’ve got a lot more oil to produce and we'll be through that 11 million bbl/d threshold much sooner than expected," said Phillip Streible, senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago.
The gains are primarily due to rising production in key shale regions in Texas and North Dakota, which ramped up sharply at the beginning of the decade as new techniques involving or fracking allowed drillers to extract vast quantities of crude from oil fields.
The increase in crude output has cut U.S. oil imports by a fifth over a decade, and boosted energy exports.
Soaring U.S. production kept a lid on oil prices this year, even though the OPEC and Russia have reduced output.
In December, production pulled back after three consecutive increases, according to the EIA's report, known as the 914 production report.
The production decline was largely driven by Gulf of Mexico output, which dropped by 131,000 bbl/d in the month, even as production from shale in Texas continued to grow. Four Gulf of Mexico platforms were shuttered throughout the month in the wake of a fire.
U.S. natural gas production in the lower 48 states rose to a monthly all-time high of 87.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December, from the prior record of 86.4 Bcf/d in November, according to the report.
The increase was driven by a 3.1% gain in Pennsylvania to a record high of 16.2 Bcf/d, and a 3.7% gain in Louisiana to 7 Bcf/d, highest since March 2013.
Output in Texas, the largest U.S. gas producer, eased 0.2% to 22.7 Bcf/d.
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