Led by incremental growth from the Haynesville Shale, natural gas production from seven key Lower 48 regions is poised to climb above 97 Bcf/d in May, updated projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show.
In its latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), published Monday, EIA said it expects combined output from seven major U.S. onshore producing regions to increase by 332 MMcf/d from April to May to reach 97,167 MMcf/d.
Alongside the Haynesville, EIA’s DPR also models production trends in the Anadarko, Appalachia and Permian Basins, as well as in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Niobrara shales.
Among the seven plays, the Haynesville will see the largest sequential increase from April to May at 94 MMcf/d. Month/month gains will also come from the Permian (77 MMcf/d), Eagle Ford (55 MMcf/d), Appalachia (48 MMcf/d), Bakken (38 MMcf/d), Niobrara (12 MMcf/d) and Anadarko (8 MMcf/d) regions, the DPR data show.
Oil production from the seven regions, meanwhile, will increase by 49,000 b/d from April to May, reaching 9,328,000 b/d, according to the latest DPR.
The Bakken is expected to post the largest sequential oil production increase at 17,000 b/d from April to May. Gains are also projected for the Permian (13,000 b/d), Anadarko (8,000 b/d), Eagle Ford (6,000 b/d), Niobrara (4,000 b/d) and Appalachia (1,000 b/d) regions, the DPR data show.
Total drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells among the seven regions declined by 10 units from February to March to finish at 4,676, according to the latest available EIA estimates.
The Permian drew down its DUC backlog by 32 wells to end the period with 761. Other DUC declines came from the Eagle Ford (down 10) and the Bakken (down one). The Niobrara (up 15), Haynesville (up 12), Anadarko (up four) and Appalachia (up two) regions all added to their respective DUC backlogs from February to March, EIA data show.
The latest DUC numbers mark a notable departure from last month’s DPR. In the month-earlier period, the seven plays added an estimated 21 DUC wells overall, with only the Eagle Ford drawing down its backlog between January and February.
EIA’s DPR makes use of recent rig data along with drilling productivity estimates and estimated changes in production from existing wells to model changes in production from the seven regions.
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