Analysts and state regulators say that US crude production will fall due to cold weather.

By Georgina Mcartney and Arathy Sommesekhar

Energy Aspects reported that state regulators and analysts?said? on Friday that U.S. crude production is expected to'slip' as cold weather forces operators to shut down?production? in key-producing areas. This could lead to a loss of up to 300,000 barrels a day. According to Energy Aspects, freeze-offs will be expected this weekend to hit the Permian Basin, which is responsible for about half of the?total U.S. oil production. This could result in a loss of around 200,000 barrels per day from just that oilfield. According to the Energy Information Administration, the Permian Basin - which straddles Texas & New Mexico - is expected to produce 6.63 million barrels per day of crude oil in January. Energy Aspects said that if the weather forecast remained colder than expected for a longer period of time, production could drop by over 300,000 barrels per day. The state regulator said that North Dakota's crude production is down by around 80,000 barrels a day, to 110,000 barrels a day, which accounts for 5-10%. This is because operators have shut in their production due to the cold weather. Justin Kringstad of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority said that production shut-ins would likely have an impact on January's oil production figures.

The latest monthly data released by the state Industrial Commission show that North Dakota is now the third-largest state in terms of oil production. In November, output increased by 12,000 barrels per day, to 1,189 bpd. State's associated gas production from wellheads fell by 0.24 billion cubic feet per day, to 0.33 Bcfd. (Reporting and editing by Sharon Singleton in Houston, Georgina McCartney in Houston)

(source: Reuters)