Subject: The nation’s new economic and oil hotspot is the Midland-Odessa area of Texas, in the heart of the Permian Basin The Bureau of Economic Analysis released data today on real GDP growth in 2012 for the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas. The fastest-growing US metro area in 2012 was Midland, TX with an eye-popping growth rate of 14.4% in the area’s real GDP, followed by No. 2 Odessa, TX at 14.1% growth. Both metro areas lie in the heart of the Permian Basin oil fields of West Texas (see map above), where oil production is surging so rapidly that it is producing more oil than the Eagle Ford Shale area of South-Central Texas, and is now expected by next year to surpass oil output in the Bakken area of North Dakota, currently the nation’s single-largest producing oil field. The Houston Business Journal reported recently that: Although the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas gets most of the chatter when it comes to talk of major oil production from hydraulic fracturing, the storied West Texas fields of the Permian Basin are revving up to steal the limelight. Between January and June of this year, the Permian Basin has already surpassed oil production in the Eagle Ford, producing 889,808 barrels each day compared to the 598,706 barrels per day in South Texas. The consensus is that the Permian Basin oil production will reach 2 million barrels of oil per day within the next five years, said Stephen Shepherd, an associate in the exploration and production research group at Simmons and Company International in Houston. Simmons expects the Eagle Ford to surpass the Bakken in oil production sometime in 2014. In 2013, the Eagle Ford is on track to produce about 930,000 barrels of oil per day, while the Bakken Shale is on track to produce a little more than 1 million barrels per day in 2013, and those two are expected to flip in 2014. The Permian Basin should produce around 1.4 million barrels per day in 2013. It’s generally expected that the Eagle Ford will continue at that pace while the Permian Basin will accelerate its production, driven by horizontal drilling. MP: To put the oil output in the Permian Basin into perspective, consider that oil output in the entire state of Texas was less than 2 million barrels per day a year ago. If the forecasts are correct, just the Permian Basin oil fields of West Texas will be producing more than that amount of oil within five years. Carpe oleum. Peak what?
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 13:36:16 +0000
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