Permian still primed for growth

Expansion prospects for the dominant oil shale basin remain in 2023

“The notion that somehow the Permian cannot grow, we do not believe is true. As long as WTI prices remain above c.$65/bl, it can and will grow. You are not going to hit the sweet spot exhaustion point until you get to the second half of the 2020s.” So says Raoul LeBlanc, vice-president, energy, at intelligence firm S&P Global Commodity Insights. And other analysts agree. Research firm Enverus forecasts Permian production rising by 400,000bl/d year-on-year— with associated gas up by 1.6bn ft³/d (45.3mn m³/d)—in 2023, while consultancy Wood Mackenzie expects the West Texas basin to account for more than 70pc of its almost 700,000bl/d annual increase in US onshore production, or c.490,000bl