Oil production from seven major U.S. shale basins is expected to surpass 8 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d) by the end of the year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly report on Dec. 17.
The United States has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer, with overall crude production climbing to a weekly record of 11.7 MMbbl/d.
When December ends, shale production is expected to climb to 8.03 MMbbl/d for the first time on record and forecast to rise by about 134,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in January to 8.17 MMbbl/d.
The largest change for January is in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, where output is expected to climb by 73,000 bbl/d to a record of about 3.8 MMbbl/d in January.
In North Dakota's Bakken region, shale production is estimated to rise by 18,000 bbl/d to a record 1.46 MMbbl/d.
U.S. natural gas production, meanwhile, was projected to increase to a record 76.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf.d) in January. That would be up more than 1.1 Bcf/d over the December forecast and would be the 12th monthly increase in a row.
A year ago in January output was 62.8 Bcf/d.
The EIA forecast gas output would increase in all the big shale basins in January.
Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest shale gas play, was set to rise 0.4 Bcf/d to a record 31.5 Bcf/d in January. Production in Appalachia was 26.4 Bcf/d in the same month a year ago.
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