U.S. Continues to Increase Sweet Crude Production

More than half of projected oil production through 2020 expected to be from light, sweet crude.

June 09, 2015

WASHINGTON – U.S. crude oil production has grown rapidly in recent years, primarily from light, sweet crude (less dense, lower sulfur content) from tight resource formations. According to a report last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), roughly 90% of the nearly 3 million barrel per day growth in production from 2011 to 2014 consisted of light, sweet grades (meaning they have an API gravity of 40 or above and a sulphur content of 0.3% or less).

EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2015 (AEO2015) projects that U.S. supply of lighter API gravity crude oil from formations in regions such as the Bakken, Permian Basin and Eagle Ford will continue to outpace that of medium and heavier crudes. Although the rate of growth in light sweet crude is predicted to slow after 2015, just over half (56%) of EIA's projected production growth between 2014 and 2020 consists of sweet grades with an API gravity of 40 or above. Another third of the growth is attributable to an increase in the lower 48 states offshore production, which is categorized as medium sour with an API gravity between 27 and 35.

The pace and duration of projected crude oil production increases are uncertain, and these factors are dependent on crude oil prices and the quality and amount of technically recoverable resources. EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, issued last month, reflects continued overall production growth in 2015 and 2016 — although at a slower pace than in 2013 and 2014 — with U.S. crude oil production in 2016 forecast to reach 9.2 million barrels per day.

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