WASHINGTON – The United States is forecast to reach another milestone in oil output next month thanks to rising production in the country’s biggest shale formations.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), a government agency that tracks U.S. energy production, is expecting the country’s seven major shale formations to increase output by 84,000 barrels per day in March. The increase will bring total oil production in the U.S. to a record of around 8.4 million barrels per day (bpd).
The Bakken region in North Dakota, for example, is expected to reach a record-setting 1.45 million bpd by March. The Eagle Ford region in Texas is projected to climb to 1.44 million bpd — the highest monthly output that formation has seen since January 2016. The Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico is slated to see the highest rate of increase, with analysts expecting the region’s production rate to reach a record 4.024 bpd.
The EIA also projected major growth for gas production. The agency expects U.S. natural gas output to reach a record 77.9 billion cubic feet per day by March. If those numbers reach fruition, it would be the 14th consecutive monthly increase in U.S. gas production.
The record-setting numbers come at the heels of President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda.
Since its inception, the Trump administration has embarked on an ambitious rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations that have hindered energy development, and it has prioritized oil and gas production. This agenda — along with advancements in fracking technology — has fueled a U.S. shale oil boom.
The U.S. has established itself as the world’s largest crude oil producer, passing both Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“We have unleashed a revolution in American energy – the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world,” the president noted during his State of the Union address in February. “And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.”
Trump’s energy agenda, however, hasn’t come without resistance. Environmental and progressive organizations have leveled countless lawsuits at the White House in an attempt to scuttle its policy goals. The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group based in Tuscon, Arizona, announced it had filed over 100 different lawsuits against the Trump administration.
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