Oil Output to Exceed 2 Million Barrels Per Day in West Texas

HOUSTON, Texas — As Texas’ gas and oil industry continues to hum, some of the state’s old oil fields could start producing millions of barrels per day. This rings especially true for West Texas’ Permian Basin, which is expected to soon produce more than 2 million barrels of oil per day. 

Thanks to technological advances including fracking, some older oil fields in Texas are now booming again, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Refracking”–the process of drilling in wells where fracking took place years ago–is simultaneously taking hold of the industry and encouraging the industry’s boom. 

Chief Executive of Athlon Energy, Bob Reeves, reportedly said of the oil output level in the Permian Basin, “You’re definitely going to hit the 2 million barrel mark. I think it’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when.”

Reeves believes that the oil field will someday yield 3 million barrels per day, according to the Journal.

The Permian is currently producing so much oil that local pipelines reportedly cannot handle it all. Construction and planning for pipelines is expected to consume the coming years as production in the basin keeps increasing. 

South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale also continues to boom; more than 1.5 barrels are being pumped out of the area every day. Earlier this year at the Annual Eagle Ford Consortium Annual Conference in San Antonio, ConocoPhillips’ Greg Leveille said, “What you’re seeing unfold in the Eagle Ford is probably the greatest energy success story of the 21st Century.” 

Texas’ gas and oil “success story” is being bolstered by fracking, which includes blasting water, sand, and other chemicals. The increasingly popular refracking practice  involves blocking previous fractures with plastic balls. The balls, AKA “diverting agents,” are pumped along with water into the old drilling sites. Typically refracking occurs on “vintage” wells that sunk at least three years ago.

It appears that the only threat to Texas’ gas and in the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin is government regulation. The the Environmental Protection Agency has already attempted to push for greenhouse gas regulations on the industry.

But for the time being, the state continues to make strides. Breitbart Texas previously reported that the Lone Star State is expected to out-produce every OPEC nation except Saudi Arabia this year.  3.4 million barrels of oil are expected to be produced in Texas by the end of 2014, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

Leveille said several months ago, “I turned 55 this year, and I suspect I’ll be in the ground long before the last drop of oil is produced in the Eagle Ford.”

Follow Kristin Tate @KristinBTate.