More than 80% of U.S. oil comes from 5 states and the Gulf of Mexico
The March issue of Energy Digital magazine is live
Five states and the Gulf of Mexico supplied 6 million barrels per day, more than 80 percent, of the crude oil produced in the United States in 2013. Texas provided almost 35 percent, according to preliminary 2013 data released in Energy Information Administration's March Petroleum Supply Monthly.
The second-largest state producer was North Dakota with 12 percent of U.S. crude oil production, followed by California and Alaska at close to 7 percent each and Oklahoma at 4 percent. The federal offshore Gulf of Mexico produced 17 percent.
Total U.S. crude oil production grew 15 percent in 2013 to 7.4 million barrels per day. Texas and North Dakota led that growth, with their crude oil outputs each increasing 29 percent from 2012, according to EIA. Production gains in both states came largely from shales, especially the Eagle Ford in Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota. In the three years since 2010, North Dakota's crude oil output has grown 177 percent and Texas's output 119 percent, the fastest in the nation.
Three other states that were among the top 10 U.S. producers in 2013 also experienced production growth rates above 20 percent during the past three years. Colorado, which overlies part of the Niobrara Shale, had 93 percent growth in production from 2010 to 2013; Oklahoma, with the Woodford Shale, had 62 percent growth; and New Mexico, which shares the Permian Basin with Texas, had 51 percent growth.
Crude oil is produced in 31 states and two offshore federal regions – the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Coast. Of those 33 producing areas, 10 supply more than 90 percent of U.S. output. While nine of those top 10 areas were also among the top 10 producers five years ago, their relative contributions have changed.
North Dakota has risen from the seventh largest oil producer to the third. The Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and California, which together in 2008 supplied nearly half of U.S. crude production mainly from conventional oil reservoirs, provided less than one-third of national output in 2013. Output in those areas has declined at the same time that overall national production has expanded.
Source: Energy Information Administration
