The peak production rate for tight horizontal oil was 7.28 million bbls/day reached in November of 2019. That corresponded to 12.9 million bbls/day of total production. According to Art Berman, an oilpatch veteran who often contributes to oilprice.com , 600 drilling rigs are required to maintain tight oil production at 7 million bbls per day. The current rig count for rigs drilling horizontal wells is 165 and tight oil production has fallen to 6.2 million bbls/day. Unless the rig count takes off, U.S. oil production is expected to fall to 8 million bbls per day by next summer. A large increase in the oil price is required to keep that from happening.
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