Permian production milestone: tight oil passes Prudhoe Bay

Permian tight oil production continues to grow. And with it comes unique milestones and performance statistics from the fastest-growing supply source in US history. In August 2022, cumulative production from horizontal Permian wells surpassed cumulative liquids production from Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest conventional field in the US. It’s a remarkable feat indeed. Numbers aren’t the only similarities. Both assets redefined domestic energy markets and policy. Each boomed when domestic energy security was high on Washington DC’s agenda and consumer energy costs needed to fall. the path forward from each play’s 14 billion boe produced divergences. Permian projects will keep growing, whereas Prudhoe Bay is in terminal decline. The latter’s margins are very high, whereas the Permian will require greater capex/bbl to extract the remaining decades of tight oil inventory.