Crude oil and natural gas production will be raised. The U.S. Energy Department raised its 2022 domestic crude oil production (excluding other liquid hydrocarbons) forecast from 11.83 million to 11.87 million barrels per day, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its monthly forecast. The forecast is 0.62 million bpd higher than the 2021 result.

The agency also slightly increased its 2023 production forecast by 30,000 bpd, to 12.34 million bpd. It is close to the annual average. This figure is close to the average annual record for oil production in the United States, set in 2019, – 12.3 million bpd.

Also, the Department of Energy slightly raised its 2022 and 2023 U.S. gas production forecasts. Gas production will be 98.13 Bcf/d in 2022 and 100.38 Bcf/d in 2023 (nearly 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas per year).

The previous forecast had assumed production of 98.07 and 99.69 Bcf/d, respectively. In 2021, the country produced 94.6 Bcf/d of gas.

While the EIA still expects gas production in the Permian Basin to be constrained in early 2023, it anticipates that these constraints will be removed sooner than previously projected, although risks remain.

The Department of Energy expects natural gas prices to rise from their November level of $5.5 per MMBtu to over $6 per MMBtu in Q1 2023 because of both higher winter demand for natural gas and increased LNG exports. This will impact crude oil and gas prices.

U.S. LNG exports are expected to be 10.6 Bcf/d in 2022, up from 10.85 Bcf/d a month ago, and rising to 12.25 Bcf/d in 2023 (nearly 145 Bcf/d); the previous forecast of 12.33 Bcf/d.

Earlier we reported that the Expert revealed the reason for the sharp fall in oil prices.