By Susan Ampers
- (General Dispatch) — Total U.S. oil production has plunged by close to 40%, which is the worst by far since unprecedented cold blast freezes well operations across the central U.S.
- Chief oil analyst Amrita Sen said at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. that the production losses were much higher than the initial approximation.
- The production of crude oil is down by four million barrels a day, which has doubled what was reported a day earlier.
- Before the cold snap, the U.S. is producing around 11 million barrels a day.
- Production losses are steadily increasing over the last three days, which is larger than what is expected, as companies and traders assess the current situation.
- The Permian Basin, America’s biggest oil field, where production is down between 65% and 80% from normal levels, is the region worst affected.
- As a result, oil and natural gas prices increased sharply on Wednesday and are still expected to go higher than the highest level ever listed last year though the demand is lower than normal.
- Furthermore, the said oil crash may also last longer than what is originally expected.
- “As producers need pipes to be fully running and power prices to normalize before they return production, a substantial return in production may not occur until this weekend at the earliest,” Amrita Sen emphasized.
- Meanwhile, the large-scale disruption has helped oil prices to upsurge the highest in the year so far.
Additional Info:
Breitbart: Report: U.S. Oil Production Crashes 40% (breitbart.com)
MSN Money: U.S. Oil Production Slumps by Record 40% as Permian Freezes (msn.com)
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