Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that oil companies pumped an average of 13.4 million barrels a day from U.S. oil fields during the week ended August 2, surpassing the previous record of 13.3 million barrels set several times this year. U.S. oil production has been on a steady rise since 2008, setting an annual peak in 2023 that is likely to be exceeded this year.
Analysts have cautioned that the EIA could revise these figures when it releases its monthly data, which typically lags behind its weekly reports by several months. For now, the numbers suggest increased efficiency in oil extraction despite a reduction in the number of active drilling rigs compared to last year, according to Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company.
“Seems to be an all-time weekly record and indicative of improving the efficiency of using drilling rigs in the oil patch,” said Andrew Lipow, head of Houston-based consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates.
Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, noted that the United States and other countries are compensating for reduced output from OPEC+, a production cartel that includes Russia and other nations.
“The U.S. output surprises to the upside,” Varga stated in an email. “Four years ago the consensus was that it will go nowhere near the 13 million barrel mark. What we have been seeing is that the US, amongst other non-OPEC+ producers, has happily filled in the gap left on the supply side of the equation by OPEC+.”