US shale oil peak in 2015

April 13, 2016

The latest EIA drilling productivity report (11th April 2016) https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/ shows US shale oil production continuing to decline in Bakken, Eagle Ford and Niobrara while the Permian has flattened out. The Eagle Ford graph (Fig 1) shows that monthly declines in existing wells overwhelm production from new wells by a factor of 2.5 The resulting peak in US shale oil production gets established (Fig 2). 


Figure 1: Eagle Ford production change from old/new wells

Figure 2: EIA drilling productivity report April 2016

More details can be found here: http://crudeoilpeak.info/us-shale-oil-peak-in-2015

The following article describes how desperate the situation is: As U.S. shale drillers suffer, even the bankrupt keep pumping oil http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0WY3JU

 

Matt Mushalik

Matt Mushalik, is a CPEng (Chartered Professional Engineer) and runs the blog Crude Oil Peak.

Tags: Oil, Shale Oil, tight oil, US oil production