{"id":433234,"date":"2026-03-22T18:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=433234"},"modified":"2026-03-22T18:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:36:42","slug":"energy-dominance-2-0-permian-basin-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=433234","title":{"rendered":"Energy Dominance 2.0: Permian Basin Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest \u201cMaking American \u2018Shale\u2019 Greater Again\u201d by David Middleton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted in a previous post<\/a>, the Permian Basin would rank 4th in the world in natural gas production, if US plays were ranked as nations. Well, a new EIA analysis of \u201ctight oil and shale gas production\u201d ranks the Permian Basin, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia in crude oil production, above every other oil producing nation on Earth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, <\/strong>Short Term Energy Outlook<\/em> (<\/strong>Table 10b<\/a>), March 2026, and Enverus<\/strong>
Note: <\/strong>Other<\/em> contains the Avalon, Barnett, Dean, and Woodford plays<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

We added the Avalon, Barnett, Dean, and Woodford plays within the Permian Basin to our estimates by formation for Permian tight oil and shale natural gas production in our March 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook<\/em><\/a> (STEO). The Permian formations already included the Spraberry, Bone Spring, and Wolfcamp plays. EIA periodically reviews and updates our play designations according to the latest interpretation of geologic information in identifying crude oil and natural gas production from tight oil<\/a> and shale<\/a> formations. At the same time, we removed the Delaware and Yeso-Glorieta plays. These modifications are isolated to the Permian formations, resulting in a net increase for tight oil production by 0.2 million barrels per day (b\/d) and shale gas production by 0.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf\/d) for 2025, compared with previous estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this update, the shale and tight formations within the Permian Basin produced 6.0 million b\/d of crude oil (44% of total U.S. oil production) and 22.2 Bcf\/d of dry natural gas (19% of total U.S. marketed gas production) in December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We measure tight oil and shale gas production two different ways in the STEO: by major geologic formations (STEO Table 10b<\/a>) and by geography (STEO Tables 4a<\/a> and 5a<\/a>). These two methods lead to differences in our estimates because surface-level activity does not distinguish between formations, which can overlap each other like layers of a cake and have differing geographical boundaries. In contrast to the Permian formations, the geographic Permian region produced 6.7 million b\/d of crude oil and 29.1 Bcf\/d of marketed natural gas in December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, <\/strong>Short Term Energy Outlook<\/em> (STEO), U.S. Geological Survey; University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology; and Enverus<\/strong>
Note: The Wolfcamp play is located throughout the Delaware and Midland sub-basins.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The Bone Spring, Spraberry, and Wolfcamp plays continue to underpin most crude oil and natural gas production in the Permian, and together they are the largest oil producing<\/a> shale and tight formations in the country, accounting for a combined 5.7 million b\/d and 20.8 Bcf\/d in December 2025. In our latest review of available geologic information, we determined that the Delaware and Yeso-Glorieta plays were conventional in nature. The removal of the Delaware and Yeso-Glorieta plays accounted for a reduction of 0.1 million b\/d and 0.3 Bcf\/d in our estimate of production from the geologic Permian and was more than offset overall by the addition of the new plays. Our estimate for the Permian geographic area did not change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) released reports on the Avalon<\/a>, the Barnett<\/a>, and the Woodford<\/a> plays located within the Permian Basin. The USGS reports identify these plays as continuous accumulations<\/a>, a category that includes shale and tight formations and is commonly referred to as unconventional. Although USGS has not yet released a geologic report on the Dean (sometimes referred to as the Wolfberry), we also include it because it is a relatively thin formation\u2014nearly indistinguishable from its continuous accumulation neighbors\u2014located vertically between the Spraberry and Wolfcamp plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, <\/strong>Short Term Energy Outlook<\/em> (<\/strong>Table 10b<\/a>), March 2026, and Enverus<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n

Although the four newly added plays account for approximately 5% of Permian production, recent increases in drilling activity and production growth in the plays have been significant. Compared with 2022, these plays combined have more than doubled (+0.2 million b\/d) oil production and increased natural gas production by 72% (+0.6 Bcf\/d) in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal contributors: <\/strong>Trinity Manning-Pickett, Troy Cook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tags: <\/strong>Permian<\/a>, map<\/a>, oil\/petroleum<\/a>, natural gas<\/a>, shale<\/a>, production\/supply<\/a>, tight oil<\/a>, liquid fuels<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EIA<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At 6 million barrels per day, the Permian Basin tight oil production would rank third in the world, if US oil production was broken up by play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
EIA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MAShGA!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As noted in a previous post, the Permian Basin would rank 4th in the world in natural gas production, if US plays were ranked as nations. Well, a new EIA analysis of \u201ctight oil and shale gas production\u201d ranks the Permian Basin, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia in crude oil production, above every other oil producing nation on Earth\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":433235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691824497,691841974,691819148,691822682,691841975],"class_list":{"0":"post-433234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-crude-oil-production","9":"tag-eia-analysis","10":"tag-oil-and-gas","11":"tag-permian-basin","12":"tag-short-term-energy-outlook-steo","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0Screenshot-2026-03-22-182106.png?fit=1518%2C753&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1OHE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":222243,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=222243","url_meta":{"origin":433234,"position":0},"title":"The Permian Basin: The gift that keeps on giving!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/05\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The major plays of the Permian Basin are \u201cstacked.\u201d Finding stacked\u00a0pay\u00a0is like getting a pony for Christmas.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-212.png?fit=1110%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-212.png?fit=1110%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-212.png?fit=1110%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-212.png?fit=1110%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-212.png?fit=1110%2C840&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":381552,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=381552","url_meta":{"origin":433234,"position":1},"title":"Permian Basin \u2013 The Energizer Bunny of Oil","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Onshore crude oil production in the U.S. Lower 48 states (L48) has more than tripled since January 2010, driven by tight oil production growth in the Permian region. 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From Substack By ED IRELAND The U.S. Energy Information Agency, EIA,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/OIG-61.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/OIG-61.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/OIG-61.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/OIG-61.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":222511,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=222511","url_meta":{"origin":433234,"position":5},"title":"The Saudis Snub Biden Again","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If you think oil prices are high now, just wait!","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-285.png?fit=1005%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-285.png?fit=1005%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-285.png?fit=1005%2C506&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-285.png?fit=1005%2C506&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=433234"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433250,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433234\/revisions\/433250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/433235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=433234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=433234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=433234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}