NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to decline by about 56,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August to about 7.49 million bpd, the lowest in the two years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly forecast on Monday.
The biggest decline is forecast for the Eagle Ford, where output is expected to slide by about 23,000 bpd to 1.1 million bpd, the lowest level since August 2017.
In the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico, production is expected to fall for the fifth straight month, easing by about 13,000 bpd to 4.15 million bpd, the lowest since March 2019, the data showed.
U.S. producers have slashed spending and curtailed new drilling as oil prices collapsed this year after the coronavirus pandemic eroded global fuel demand.
The U.S. oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by five to an all-time low of 258 in the week to July 10, according to data on Friday from energy services firm Baker Hughes Co going back to 1940. [RIG/U]
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)
