BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.23
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Oil and gas output at Eagle Ford in the US is not likely to rebound to pre-pandemic levels in the next two years, Trend reports with reference to GlobalData.
The company notes that, despite a recent sustained upswing in WTI crude oil prices, with prices hovering over $70 per barrel, production of both crude oil and natural gas is failing to show signs of a major increase. In order to reverse the production trend, it is estimated that an additional $1.5 billion of investment is required to increase production by 10 percent by the end of next year, says the company.
According to GlobalData’s latest report, production in the Eagle Ford has been somewhat stable at 1,070 thousand barrels per day (mbd) for crude oil and 5,850 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) for natural gas since June last year.
Svetlana Doh, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData notes that as WTI futures prices climbed up by 38 percent in the first half of 2021, and reached $72 per barrel of oil in July, there has been an increase in drilling activity in the Eagle Ford where rig count rose by 27 percent.
“However, we are yet to see an increase in production as newly drilled wells need to be completed and put on production. The speed at which rigs are added slowed at around 3 percent in the past six months, which suggests that production is not likely to rebound to pre-pandemic levels of 1,400 mbd in the next two years, unless Eagle Ford operators chose a more aggressive drilling strategy,” she said.
“Assuming oil price remains stable at current levels, crude oil and natural gas production in the Eagle Ford shale is projected to jump on an upward trend throughout the forecast period of 2021-25, added Doh.
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