Just as the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported it believes there will be record crude oil production this year, there has been a sizeable increase in storage in oil at the Cushing hub in northern Oklahoma.
The EIA reported that as of Jan. 6, 2023, there was a total of 25.3 million barrels of oil in storage at Cushing. It represented a gain of 2.5 million barrels from a week earlier on December 30, 2022 when the total was 25.3 million barrels.
Cushing started December 2022 with 23.9 million barrels of crude oil.
The EIA in a short term forecast issued this week said it expects oil production in the U.S. will average 12.4 million barrels a day in 2023 and 12.8 million in 2024.
The growth in crude oil production is driven by increased production in the Lower 48 states, notably the Permian region and, to a lesser extent, the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Increased forecast production is supported by crude oil prices and infrastructure capacity additions.