By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. field production of crude oil rose to a new monthly record in August at 13.05 million barrels per day, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.
Output rose 0.7% in August from the month prior, the data showed. The previous monthly high was in November 2019, when production reached 13.0 million bpd.
The monthly high is still shy of a weekly record for U.S. oil production at 13.2 million bpd, hit in the week to Oct. 6.
Production in the world’s top oil producer recovered slowly over the last three years as companies used record profits to increase dividends and buybacks rather than spending to rapidly increase drilling and production.
In Texas, the top U.S. oil-producing state, output in August rose by 0.5% to a monthly record of 5.63 million bpd, the EIA data showed.
In New Mexico and North Dakota, production rose to nearly 1.80 million bpd and 1.22 million bpd, respectively.
Gross natural gas production in the U.S. Lower 48 states rose 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to a record 116.3 bcfd in August from 115.0 bcfd in July, according to EIA’s monthly 914 production report.
That topped the prior all-time high of 115.2 bcfd in May.
In top gas-producing states, monthly output in August rose 0.9% in Texas to a new record 34.4 bcfd and 0.5% % in Pennsylvania to 20.9 bcfd.
That topped the prior all-time high of 34.1 bcfd in Texas in July and compares with a record 21.9 bcfd in Pennsylvania in December 2021.
In demand, U.S. product supplied of crude and petroleum products rose in August to 20.88 million bpd, the highest since August 2019, EIA data showed.
Demand for motor gasoline gained to nearly 9.3 million bpd, the highest since June 2021.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Shariq Khan and Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)
