The U.S. Energy Information Administration said it expects the United States to pump 12.4 million barrels of crude a day in 2019 and 13.2 million barrels a day in 2020. The January average was 12 million barrels a day, up 90,000 from December.
Most of the increase is expected to come from the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, where production has been booming for several years as operators use hydraulic fracturing and other techniques to squeeze more oil and gas from shale formations, the Washington Post reported.
The agency expects WTI to average $54.79 a barrel this year and $58 next year, down from $65 in 2018. It expects Brent to average $61 a barrel this year and $62 next year, down from $71 in 2018.
The 2020 price forecast is $3 a barrel lower than the agency had previously predicted.
