U.S. crude oil production efficiency continues to improve

U.S. tight oil production increased in 2017, accounting for 54% of total U.S. crude oil production, in part because of the increasing productivity of new wells. Since 2007, the average first full month of oil production from new wells in regions tracked by EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) has generally increased. These growing initial production rates have helped tight oil production to increase despite slowdowns in drilling activity when oil prices fell. More »