After years of steady increase, oil production in the Eagle Ford is on the decline.
Related: Shale Industry Loses Billions
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest Drilling Productivity Report that predicts U.S. oil production is heading south.
Since April, oil production in the major shale plays are decreasing sharply, with the Eagle Ford being the biggest loser. The Eagle Ford has lost 300,000 barrels a day and other major plays also experiencing a decrease include the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, the Utica Shale in Ohio and the Niobrara in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. Total production from shale plays fell by 350,000 barrels.
“Fuelfix reported that outside of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, crude production in the United States, Russia, the North Sea near the United Kingdom and other regions could fall by 500,000 barrels a day, the biggest decline in more than two decades, and U.S. output “is likely to bear the brunt” of that, even after putting out 1.7 million additional barrels of oil last year.”
In the first half of 2015, U.S. shale producers lost more than $30 billion as the prolonged slump in oil prices continues to take its toll. The data firm, Factset, says that capital spending exceeded cash by about $32 billion in the first six months of the year and is quickly approaching the deficit of $37.7 billion reported for the whole of 2014.