US crude output hit a 20-year high in 2012, says EIA

A rise in shale oil production boosted US crude oil output to a 20-year high in 2012, a report from the The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has revealed.

EIA’s new Petroleum Supply Monthly report showed that US crude oil production for November 2012 went up from 6.893 million bpd to 7.013 million bpd.

The report said that this is the first time any US monthly oil output was above 7 million bpd since December 1992, while crude oil production for December 2012 was even higher at 7.030 million bpd, posting a 16.7% rise from a year earlier.

In 2012, US yearly oil production averaged 6.474 million bpd, up 826,000 barrels a day over 2011, the highest yearly output level since 1995.

According to EIA, extensive use of new technology such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling allowed oil producers to extract oil that was previously inaccessible.

The biggest rise in production was in North Dakota, where output increased 58% to 662,000 barrels a day in 2012, from a year earlier.

North Dakota’s output surpassed flow from the Alaska North Slope and California in 2012, mainly due to strong growth in the Bakken oil field.

In December 2012, North Dakota output reached a record level at 769,000 barrels a day, marking an increase of 43.7% from a year earlier.

EIA noted North Dakota’s annual production was third in the country, just behind the output of Texas.

The output at Alaska North Slope declined for a 10th straight year to 515,000 barrels a day.

At 531,000 barrels a day, California output was steady year-to-year, half the size of its early 1980s peaks.

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Image: In December 2012, US crude oil production was 7.030 million bpd. Photo: Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net.