A pair of reports show impact of U.S. oil and gas boom
 

[April 10, 2015]  By Rob Nikolewski │ Watchdog.org
 
 The recent downturn in global oil prices notwithstanding, the U.S. has gone through a dramatic energy revival in the space of just a few years.

The extent of the boom in crude oil and natural gas production was highlighted earlier this week when the U.S. Energy Information Administration — which compiles the country’s energy statistics — released two reports.

On Tuesday, EIA figures confirmed the U.S. beat out Saudi Arabia and Russia to maintain its lead as the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas:

Chart from the Energy Information Administration

Natural gas production in the U.S. increased by 13.9 billion cubic feet per day over the past five years while oil has increased by more than 50 million barrels a day since 2008, due in large part to enormous boosts in activity in Texas and North Dakota.

The EIA report went on to say that despite a 50 percent drop in global oil prices in the second half of 2014, petroleum production in the U.S. still increased by 1.6 million barrels a day.
 

Just one day earlier, the EIA released another report — this one looking for the first time since 2009 at the Top 100 crude oil and natural gas fields in the country.

Using the most recent numbers from the end of the 2013, the EIA reports the best-producing oil field was Eagleville in the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas, which turned out a massive 238 million barrels in 2013.

Before 2008, a well had not even been drilled in the Eagle Ford formation, but technological improvements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing changed all that.

The No. 1 field for natural gas production was the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, Ohio and New York, which produced 2.8 trillion cubic feet gas in 2013.

The Marcellus Shale was just a blip on the screen in the 2009 Top 100. But in the most recent EIA numbers, the Marcellus produced 45 percent more than the second-largest gas field.

But what’s really interesting comes from taking the EIA numbers and comparing them from 2009 and 2013.

The figures for crude oil and condensate — an ultralight oil that commonly flows from shale sites that condenses into a liquid when reaching the surface — have grown a stunning 63.7 percent while natural gas reserves increased by nearly one-quarter:

Numbers derived from EIA report on 4/6/15

“I’m really not surprised,” said Joseph Dancy, portfolio manager for LSGI Venture Fund and an adjunct professor in energy and environmental law at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

“When it comes to natural gas, a lot of people don’t realize the Marcellus is a huge field that will be producing for decades,” Dancy said. “A lot of folks think natural gas prices will be really moderate for at least a decade if not longer because there’s so much supply.”

But will the big production numbers continue for oil in the current low-price environment?

“They’ll drop off,” Dancy said in a telephone interview with Watchdog.org. “The natural gas will continue to increase because of domestic demand from power plants. The rig counts for oil will fall off … I wouldn’t be surprised if oil production begins to decline starting this month.”

Click here to look at the Top 100 oil and gas fields in the EIA report.

[This article courtesy of Watchdog.org.]