U.S. oil output rose to record high in September

(The Center Square) – U.S. oil production rose by 44,000 barrels per day to a record 13.84 million barrels per day in September, driven by a sharp increase in New Mexico and Alaska.The 0.3% rise represented the fourth consecutive month of record output, Energy Information Administration data shows. Production also showed growth in Oklahoma but remained flat in Texas and other key producing states, as oil prices remain low. The price Wednesday of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was at $59.46, down 12.3% from $67.79 a barrel at the beginning of 2025.U.S. crude oil output is up by 407,000 barrels, or 3.0%, since the beginning of the year, driven by technological advancements and efforts by the Trump administration to immediately increase domestic energy production. The U.S. has been the world’s top crude oil producer since 2018.The average price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline on Monday was $3, about 5 cents lower than a year ago, according to AAA.Onshore oil productionIn New Mexico, the second-ranked oil producing state behind Texas, output in September reached 2.351 million barrels per day, representing 17.5% of all U.S. production in the month.New Mexico oil production rose by 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.2%, in September, the data shows. Over the first nine months of 2025, crude oil production in the state increased by 240,000 barrels a day, or 11.4%Productivity gains have been touted by ExxonMobil, the largest producer in the Permian Basin, which spans west Texas and southeast New Mexico. The company has cited success from a proprietary technology it uses in its fracking operations in a portion of the Permian Basin located in New Mexico.The productivity of wells drilled by Exxon in southeast New Mexico has increased by 21% compared to other wells drilled in the same area, industry consulting and analytics firm RBN Energy reported in a blog post. In December 2024, Exxon announced plans to double its production in the Permian Basin to 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030.Exxon’s proppant – a material that opens channels so that oil and natural gas can flow more freely – has increased well productivity, said Pierre Conner, who leads the Tulane Energy Institute in New Orleans.“Exxon is using petroleum coke for the proppant. There continues to be technical advancements like this and others that provide the energy companies a better chance of success and reduces risk in their drilling activities,” Conner said.In Alaska, the fifth-ranked oil-producing state, output in September increased by 31,000 barrels per day, or 8.0%, to 418,000 barrels a day as a new field ramped up output. The ConocoPhillips Nuna project on the North Slope began production in December 2024 and now delivers about 20,000 additional barrels to the market. Repsol, a multinational oil company based in Spain, expects to begin production in early 2026 at the Pikka field on Alaska’s North Slope, with daily output expected to reach 80,000 barrels.In Oklahoma, the state with the sixth-highest crude oil production in September, output rose by 14,000 barrels a day, or 2.5%, to 414,000 barrels per day during the month, according to government data.Other key oil producing states like Texas, North Dakota and Colorado saw September output levels that were little changed from August. In Texas, crude oil production was down by 30,000 barrels a day to 5.801 million barrels a day, and output has nearly flatlined in the last six months.In North Dakota and Colorado, the third and fourth largest U.S. oil producing states, output was little changed at 1.155 million barrels a day and 469,000 barrels a day, respectively.Offshore oil productionCrude oil output in the federal offshore gulf region, located in the Gulf of America, reached 1.983 million barrels per day in September, the most since February 2020. Offshore production in the Gulf is expected to grow rapidly during the next two years due to technological advancements, a more favorable regulatory and investment environment and a shift away from onshore shale production.Eric Smith, a professor at the Tulane Energy Institute with expertise in offshore energy, said the vast majority of new oil production in the Gulf will occur in deep water, where it is relatively expensive to drill. Technical advancements and improved operational efficiencies now make vast, previously unreachable oil reservoirs in the Gulf accessible to the largest energy companies, Smith said.“About a year ago, the drilling equipment used to reach oil in deepwater could withstand pressures of about 15,000 pounds per square inch, and now the limit is near 20,000 per square inch, making some projects economically viable,” Smith said.In August 2024, Chevron and its partners started oil production at the Anchor field, the first-ever deepwater high-pressure, high-temperature development to use equipment rated at 20,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, Smith noted.Improved production methods focused on the use of “subsea tiebacks,” which make use of existing pipelines and infrastructure, is also driving oil output higher in the Gulf, Smith said. This production method was pioneered by Covington, Louisiana-based LLOG Exploration, a prolific user of the strategy in the deepwater Gulf of America, Smith said.“Instead of spending a billion dollars or so on a new platform that takes three or four years to build, the energy companies will spend money on a pipeline that ties back to an existing platform that’s nearby and underutilized, and they will pay rent for that. This saves an enormous amount of time and engineering costs,” Smith said.Several major new fields and subsea tiebacks either became operational in 2025 or are expected to enter service in 2026, including projects like Whale, Ballymore and Salamanca, which will add significant production capacity.