Mubasher: Oil production from seven key US shale plays is set to jump by 80,000 next May to 8.460 million barrels per day (bpd), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Crude production from the Permian Basin, which covers parts of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, would record an increase of 42,000 bpd to around 4.136 million bpd in the next month, hitting a new high.

In North Dakota’s Bakken region, shale production is expected to grow by 11,000 to 1.385 million bpd, lower than a record of 1.41 million tapped last January.

Shale output is estimated to edge up in the Eagle Ford region by 7,000 to nearly 1.429 million bpd, which will mark the biggest monthly output since January 2016.

Production growth in the Permian and other major key shale formations lost momentum as oil prices dropped in the fourth quarter of last year, while shale firms reduced spending as investor pushed for more focus on earnings growth instead of higher output.

On a side note, the EIA predicted that US natural gas output would vault 79.83 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd), which will be up 907 million cubic feet per day higher, compared with April projection.