American Oil Production Is Growing More Slowly Than Expected

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. oil production may not be growing quite as fast as everyone thinks.

American drillers pumped 10.442 million barrels a day in May -- about 300,000 fewer barrels per day than the Energy Information Administration had projected. In a report released Tuesday, the agency revised its weekly production estimates for the month, lowering average May output by 3 percent. The slide comes as the nation churns out records volume of crude, with explorers expanding the U.S. rig fleet by more than 110 since January.

The decline, reported in the EIA’s monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production report, suggests that figures for June also may clock in lower than estimated. For now, the agency’s preliminary June production estimate is a record 11 million barrels a day.

The May data released Tuesday is still subject to change, according to EIA spokesman Paul Hesse. In the same report, the agency revised upward its April production figures by 5,000 barrels a day.

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