U.S. production has remained surprisingly resilient amid the fall in oil prices, but data from the EIA today showed that production is beginning to come off at an increasingly fast pace. Total U.S. crude production averaged 8.933 MMBOPD in April, down 220 MBOPD from 9.155 MMBOPD in March, according to the EIA. The decrease is the largest drop in monthly production since the start of the downturn.
The decrease in U.S. production came primarily from onshore production in the Lower 48, which reported a decline of 142 MBOPD, or 2.4 percent, month-over-month. Major producers like Alaska, North Dakota, Texas and the Federal Offshore all showed significant declines of 4.3 percent, 6.0 percent, 1.4 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. Total U.S. production is down 7.9 percent from April of last year.
Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Utah all reported increased levels of production despite the lower total production in the country in April. Pennsylvania saw the largest uptick, producing 7.8 percent more month-over-month.
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Comments
1. Oil Sands contain colloidal clays which build up in the solvent and are very difficult to remove.
2. Due to the volatile nature of the solvent the entire process has to be contained in an explosion proof envelope which is very expensive.
The development of the SAGD method can reach much deeper deposits and does not involve tailings ponds. Surface mining can only reach 10% of available Oil Sands.