Flat output from U.S. shale in last 12 months is not quite what OPEC had in mind

Pumpjacks about ready to come online in North Dakota. Photo in October 2015 by James Ulvog. Not what OPEC planned.
Pumpjacks in North Dakota about ready to start pumping. Photo in October 2015 by James Ulvog. Not what OPEC planned.

Production in the Bakken field of North Dakota dropped 4,140 bopd from October 2014 to October 2014. Going from average output of 1,118,070 bopd a year ago to 1,113,930 in 10/14 is a drop of 0.37%, or about one-third of one percent.

Overall production in North Dakota dropped 14,565 bopd, or 1.23% in the same time.

I don’t think flat production is what OPEC, I mean Saudi Arabia, had in mind when they went for maximum production.

Oil Online called my attention to the one-year change when they mentioned on 12/18 Platts Bentek: shale oil production holds steady in Bakken, Eagle Ford.

Looking at November to November data, Platts Bentek, production changes from 11/14 to 11/15 are:

  • + 3% /  +40K bopd / Eagle Ford
  • (3%) /                           Bakken field in North Dakota
  •           +265K bopd / total US production

Again, that is not quite what OPEC had in mind. The goal was to take 1M bopd of production offline, with main goal of the cutback coming out of US production, especially by crippling production in US shale.

I don’t think that flat production in Bakken with Eagle Ford showing overall increase was quite their plan.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *