Weekly production crosses 9 million barrel per day threshold
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Still flowing.
NEW
YORK (MarketWatch) — Falling oil prices haven’t taken the wind out of
U.S. oil producers just yet. Weekly data from the Energy Information
Administration on Thursday showed U.S. production totaled 9.06 million
barrels a day in the week ended Nov. 7, the highest level since the
1980s.
That appeared to overshadow an unexpected drawdown in weekly crude supplies, with traders sending Nymex WTI crude futures
CLZ4, +2.32%
briefly below $75 a barrel, the
lowest trade for a most-active futures contract since September 2010,
according to FactSet.
Twitter lit up, too:
The Wall Street Journal noted that
the weekly production hasn’t topped 9 million barrels a day since 1983,
according to the EIA’s weekly report. EIA’s monthly data, which is
viewed as more reliable, last shows production topping the 9 million
barrel threshold in 1986, the report noted.
The rise comes as advances
in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, and other techniques made
production in shale oil fields more attractive. The big question is
whether a rout in oil prices since mid-June, reflecting increased U.S.
and global production and lackluster demand growth, will eventually
prompt shale producers to curtail their activity.
So far, boom
times in oil production haven’t encouraged the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries to curb oil production either.
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