Energy Prospectus

Stephen Shepherd, an associate in the exploration and production research group at Simmons and Company International in Houston, said the consensus is that the Permian Basin oil production will reach 2 million barrels of oil per day within the next five years.

As production moderates in the Dakotas’ Bakken Shale, the Permian is expected to fill the gap, Shepherd said.

Simmons and Company 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. The Williston Basin in the Bakken Shale is producing in 2013 a little above 1 million barrels, and those two are expected to flip in 2014. The Permian should produce around 1.4 million in 2013.

It’s generally expected that the Eagle Ford will continue at that pace while the Permian will accelerate its production, driven by horizontal drilling.

U.S. oil production for August hit its highest level since 1989 as output from shale plays such as South Texas’ Eagle Ford slashed foreign fuel consumption.

Estimated oil production for August hit 7.6 million barrels per day, the highest monthly output since May 1989, according to numbers released last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA last week revised upward its 2013 projection for crude output by 70,000 barrels per day. It also boosted its 2014 projection by 190,000 barrels per day.

Driven by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which opens up crude supplies in previously unworkable plays such as the Eagle Ford, domestic oil production now will average 7.5 million barrels per day in 2013, according to EIA data.