US crude oil production is forecast to rise by 230,000 b/d in 2012, largely on production gains in the Lower-48, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in its March Short-Term Energy Outlook.
Production should rise in 2012 to an average of 5.83 million b/d, up from an average of 5.60 million b/d in 2011, EIA said. Production should rise again in 2013 by about 90,00 b/d to an average of 5.92 million b/d, the agency said.
Production from both Alaska and the federal Gulf of Mexico is expected to fall in 2012 compared with 2011. But Gulf production will increase slightly from an average of 1.23 million b/d in 2012 to an average of 1.24 million b/d in 2013, EIA said.
