Texas oil production moving up in world ranking

The state’s production, driven mainly by the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas and the Permian Basin in West Texas, will reach about 3.4 million barrels per day, propelling Texas past Iraq and Iran, said Greg Leveille of ConocoPhillips.

Among non-OPEC countries, only Russia, the United States as a whole, China and Canada would exceed Texas’ oil production, making the state the world’s sixth-largest producer.

“This is the greatest comeback story you can possibly imagine,” Leveille said at the Eagle Ford Consortium conference in San Antonio.

• Leveille said the high crude oil content of the Eagle Ford and the high level of returns that Houston-based ConocoPhillips and other operators are seeing mean it has the greatest potential of all U.S. shale fields.
• “The Eagle Ford is by far the most important unconventional reservoir play in North America today,” Leveille said.

“We want to talk about the boom without having a bust.” Leveille said the region will see “decades and decades of production.”

• “What you’re seeing unfold in the Eagle Ford is probably the greatest energy success story we will see in the 21st century,” Leveille said.
• The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers’ estimates are slightly less optimistic than Leveille’s, but also point to surging production.
• The industry group estimates the state’s crude oil production rose to 2.7 million barrels per day by the end of 2013 and will cross the 3 million mark before year’s end.

South Texas is transforming alongside the Eagle Ford – a formation that everyone in the industry knew was there all along, but could never tap. Drillers used to talk about getting gas “kicks” while drilling through the shale.