Texas Oil Production Climbs to All-Time High Amid Strong Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Oil drillers are working extra hard with crude prices rising near $70 a barrel.

Texas oil production jumped to 4.01 million barrels a day in February, almost 21 percent higher from a year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration, the highest in EIA data since 1981. That helped push total U.S. crude output in February up 2.6 percent to a fresh record of 10.3 million.

"Growth in U.S. oil production is driven by Texas and the Permian Basin," said Elisabeth Murphy, an analyst with Wakefield, Massachusetts-based ESAI Energy LLC. "It’s really booming."

Production from the region started to accelerate in the fourth quarter of last year, and its growing faster than previously expected, she said. "And all this growth is now trying to get to the U.S. Gulf Coast for export."

The rising supply has already filled up available pipeline capacity, with no new pipes or expansions expected to start until the second quarter. Until then West Texas crude prices will remain under pressure, Murphy said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheela Tobben in New York at vtobben@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Stephen Cunningham

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