Permian Basin Leaves Rivals Behind As Production Continues To Grow

Permian oil production growth is set to outpace OPEC heavyweight Iraq this year and next as demand for oil surges on historically tight supply, Rystad Energy research shows. Total oil output from the Permian, including both conventional and unconventional, is forecast to grow by almost 1 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, jumping from 4.7 million to 5.6 million bpd, before climbing further to around 6.5 million bpd in 2023. By contrast, Iraq’s output will grow by some 600,000 bpd in 2022 and 400,000 in 2023. In 2010, the Permian only produced some 1 million bpd, dwarfed by oil-producing countries such as Norway, Brazil and Canada. As a whole, the US produced less than 6 million bpd in 2010. However, in the years since, output has surged with the Permian becoming a critical driver of US production growth. The basin now boasts higher production than any country besides Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In 2023, the Permian is on track to account for about half of all US oil output of 13.2 million bpd, up from about 42% in 2021. While the Permian has produced more oil per year than Iraq since 2020, the gap between the two countries will widen in the next two years. Illustrating the Permian’s significant growth further, total oil production in the basin will outstrip the combined output of Norway and Brazil in 2022, which will together produce about 4.8 million bpd.

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Source: OilPrice