U.S. oil production fell for the second consecutive month in December to its lowest level since June last year, while demand reached a multi-month high, the Energy Information Administration said on Friday.
Crude oil output averaged 13.66 million barrels per day in December, down about 133,000 bpd from November, the EIA said. That was the largest month-over-month decline in U.S. oil output since January 2025, when adverse weather caused shut-ins at major production centers.
The U.S. is the world’s top oil-producing nation as well as its top consumer, but analysts have been expecting output to slow in response to the decline in oil prices in recent years. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading near $67 on Friday, compared with about $77.50 at the same time in 2024.
Total U.S. petroleum demand rose 624,000 bpd to 20.85 million bpd in December, highest since August, the EIA data showed. Gasoline demand rose 101,000 bpd to 8.78 million bpd in December, while demand for distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 16,000 bpd to 3.81 million bpd, the data showed.
Meanwhile, U.S. gross natural gas production from the Lower 48 states rose to a record 135.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in December, up from the prior all-time high of 134.2 bcfd in November.
In top gas-producing states, monthly output in December rose by 1% to a monthly record high of 38.5 bcfd in Texas. Output also rose by 2% to 21.5 bcfd in Pennsylvania, the EIA said.
That compares with a prior monthly all-time high of 38.2 bcfd in November in Texas. Pennsylvania’s record high of 21.9 bcfd was in December 2021.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan and Scott DiSavino in New York)