Karnes County, in the Eagle Ford Shale, resumed its top spot for oil production volumes for March 2017.

Related: Eagle Ford Gains Strength

The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) produced the March production statistics last week, showing the state produced 77,262,815 barrels of crude oil and 608,006,175 mcf of natural gas from oil and gas wells. This was very close to the preliminary volumes report for March 2016, which was 77,702,710 barrels.

Karnes County led the state in oil production, producing 6,969,260 bbls. Other Eagle Ford counties in the top ten included Dewitt, La Salle and McMullen. For the last few month, Midland County edged out Karnes for the top spot, but fell back in March to second place. 

Production Highlights

• Total production for the last year was 980 million barrels of crude oil and 7.9 trillion cubic feet of total gas. 
• March 2017 crude oil production averaged 2,492,349 barrels daily, compared to the 2,506,539 barrels daily average of March 2016. (preliminary)
• Total gas production averaged 19,613,102 mcf a day, compared to the 20,592,813 mcf daily average of March 2016. (preliminary)
• Currently 177,719 oil wells and 90,804 gas wells operating in the state. 

Things have been looking up in the Eagle Ford. During the first quarter of 2017, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) reported a spike in the number of drilling permits issued. The agency granted 3257 new drilling permits, more than double the number of this time last year.