US oil production could stop increasing some time this year, the consulting firm IHS Energy estimated in a new report cited by Fuel Fix.
The study could offer hope for an industry reeling from lower commodity prices that show no imminent signs of rebounding in the face of growing US production volumes.
The report is based on an analysis of 39,000 wells and assumes the price of West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark crude, remains below $60.
If that holds true, production growth would continue in the early months of 2015 and could level off in the latter half of the year, IHS said.
“The reality of lower oil prices and less spending on new wells will affect production as 2015 progresses,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president of IHS Energy, in a statement.
By the end of 2015, IHS projects US monthly production to be half a million barrels more than it was in January. But almost all of that growth will come in the first half of the year. Production will have been flat for months by the close of the year, the firm projects.
Other researchers, however, say it will take longer for production growth to slow. Karr Ingham, an economist with the Texas Alliance of Energy producers, said he doesn’t expect a near-term rebound in oil prices largely because US oil companies continue to increase production and don’t show signs of stopping.
