Extraction from oil fields across the U.S. dropped by 60,000 barrels per day in November, continuing last month’s slide, according to information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
FuelFix.com reports that U.S. crude production sits at 9.17 million barrels of oil per day, a drop of 410,000 barrels per day since peaking in April.
Despite the somber news, the Energy Information Administration upped it forecast for production in 2015, 9.33 million, which is 40,000 barrels per day higher than the agency’s previous prediction. The agency also revised its forecast for 2016 down by 10,000 barrels per day to 8.76 million.
The number reflect a nosedive in drilling, evident in the more than 1,000 rigs shuttered across North America since production peaked in Oct. 2014. Last week’s rig count, put out weekly by Houston oil giant Baker Hughes, showed active rigs searching for oil in the U.S. has dropped to 545, which is the lowest mark in more than five years.
Some oil fields have been hit harder than others in terms of decline, including the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas and Bakken Shale in North Dakota.
