The federal government is predicting that U.S. crude oil production will average 9.4 million barrels a day in the second half of 2017.
The Energy Information Administration says that’s 340,000 barrels a day more than in the first half of the year. The EIA also believes production in 2018 will average 9.9 million barrels a day, beating the previous high of 9.6 million set in 1970.
The Short Term Energy Outlook released this week claims that most of the growth in the second half of this year will be in the Permian region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Production continues to grow in the Permian as West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices remain higher than $45 per barrel.