The Permian Basin in West Texas and southern New Mexico is gaining rigs according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
As of September, the basin picked up another 52 drilled but uncompleted wells, making a total of 1,378. The EIA also predicted the Permian’s November crude oil production will increase 30,000 b/d to 2.012 million b/d. Natural gas output will increase 58 MMcfd to 7.054 bcfd.
While the number of DUCs grew in the Permian last month, the overall count in the U.S. fell by 27 to 5,069. That’s a drop of 507 wells from January 2016.
Based on the forecast of the EIA, overall November U.S. crude production is expected to drop 30,000 b/d to 4.429 million b/d. Gas production will lose 178 MMcfd, dropping to 45.958 bcfd.
The Eagle Ford in south Texas saw its DUC inventory drop by 36 last month to 1,276. At the same time, the oil play’s oil production is expected to slip 35,000 b/d to 947,000 b/d and gas production should fall 183 MMcfd to 5.625 bcfd.