The Eagle Ford produced its billionth barrel of oil sometime in November, according to Wood Mackenzie. “More than 70% of that has been produced in the last two years, and the Eagle Ford now accounts for about 16% of total U.S. daily oil production,” the research firm said Dec. 4.
WoodMac heralded the milestone with an infographic showcasing significant statistics from the play’s history. The billion barrels represents four years of gasoline for every licensed driver in Texas, 155,000 full-time jobs, and more than 10,000 wells completed, according to WoodMac.
Though significant, the milestone comes at an awkward time as producers ponder their next steps in response to falling oil prices. Oil settled at $65.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Dec. 5, Bloomberg reported.
In Texas, Eagle Ford production appears to have begun falling as early as August, when daily production dropped slightly to 2.23 million barrels from 2.24 barrels in July, according to data from the Texas Railroad Commission. September production also dropped to 2.19 million barrels daily. Overall production was down each month as well.
Indeed, production seems to be dropping across the board. Wells Fargo reported Dec. 3 that crude inventories had dropped.
“The EIA reported U.S. crude inventories of 379,335 Mboe, which declined by 3,689 Mboe versus the prior week and compared to the five-year average of 358,387 Mboe,” according to Wells Fargo. “Cushing inventories decreased by 694 Mboe to 23,885 Mboe versus the prior week and compared to the five-year average of 36,591 Mboe.”
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