According to a 2026 survey, oil producers operating in the Permian region needed WTI oil prices to amount to a minimum of ***U.S. dollars per barrel in order to profitably drill a new well. This is compared to a minimum breakeven price of ***U.S. dollars per barrel for existing wells. The monthly average WTI oil price ranged between ** and ** U.S. dollars per barrel around the time of the survey. Most productive oil basins Operators in shale basins have the lowest average breakeven prices for new wells. However, when it comes to existing wells, operators in the Permian (Delaware) basin can afford even lower oil prices. The Permian basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, accounts for the greatest U.S. oil production output of any region. In 2024, production in the Permian reached nearly *********** barrels per day - more than **** times the amount extracted from the neighboring Eagle Ford rock formation. Texas is leading oil producing state With both regions located in Texas, it is not surprising that this is also the leading crude oil producing U.S. state. Nearly two billion barrels worth of crude oil were extracted in Texas per year, far more than any other state. Texas is home to a total of five major oil and gas formations.

On April 7, 2026, the Brent crude oil price stood at 107.13 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 110.34 U.S. dollars for WTI oil and 124.12 U.S. dollars for the OPEC basket. Oil prices rose significantly that week.Europe's Brent crude oil, the U.S. WTI crude oil, and OPEC's basket are three of the most important benchmarks used by traders as references for global oil and gasoline prices. Prices rose heavily in March amidst the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Lowest ever oil prices during coronavirus pandemic In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in crude oil prices hitting a major slump as oil demand drastically declined following lockdowns and travel restrictions. Initial outlooks and uncertainty surrounding the course of the pandemic brought about a disagreement between two of the largest oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, in early March. Bilateral talks between global oil producers ended in agreement on April 13th, with promises to cut petroleum output and hopes rising that these might help stabilize the oil price in the coming weeks. However, with storage facilities and oil tankers quickly filling up, fears grew over where to store excess oil, leading to benchmark prices seeing record negative prices between April 20 and April 22, 2020. How crude oil prices are determined As with most commodities, crude oil prices are impacted by supply and demand, as well as inventories and market sentiment. However, as oil is most often traded in future contracts (where a contract is agreed upon while product delivery will follow in the next two to three months), market speculation is one of the principal determinants for oil prices. Traders make conclusions on how production output and consumer demand will likely develop over the coming months, leaving room for uncertainty. Spot prices differ from futures in so far as they reflect the current market price of a commodity.

Discover the booming oil shale market forecast to 2033! This comprehensive analysis reveals key drivers, trends, restraints, and regional market shares. Learn about major players like ExxonMobil and Chevron, and understand the opportunities and challenges in this dynamic energy sector. Explore the impact of shale oil competition and environmental considerations.

View monthly updates and historical trends for Utah Crude Oil First Purchase Price. Source: Energy Information Administration. Track economic data with YC…

The annual price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is expected to reach an average of 63.58 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2025, according to an August 2025 forecast. This would be a decrease of roughly 13 U.S. dollar compared to the previous year. In the first eight months of 2025, weekly crude oil prices largely stayed below 70 U.S. dollars per barrel amid trade tariffs and an expected economic downturn. What are benchmark crudes? WTI is often used as a price reference point called a benchmark (or ”marker”) crude. This category includes Brent crude from the North Sea, Dubai Crude, as well as blends in the OPEC reference basket. WTI, Brent, and the OPEC basket have tended to trade closely, but since 2011, Brent has been selling at a higher annual spot price than WTI, largely due to increased oil production in the United States. What causes price volatility? Oil prices are historically volatile. While mostly shaped by demand and supply like all consumer goods, they may also be affected by production limits, a change in U.S. dollar value, and to an extent by market speculation. In 2022, the annual average price for WTI was close to the peak of nearly 100 U.S. dollars recorded in 2008. In the latter year, multiple factors, such as strikes in Nigeria, an oil sale stop in Venezuela, and the continuous increase in oil demand from China were partly responsible for the price surge. Higher oil prices allowed the pursuit of extraction methods previously deemed too expensive and risky, such as shale gas and tight oil production in the U.S. The widespread practice of fracturing source rocks for oil and gas extraction led to the oil glut in 2016 and made the U.S. the largest oil producer in the world.

Discover the booming oil shale market! Explore its projected growth, key drivers, and challenges impacting major players like ExxonMobil and Chevron. Learn about regional market shares and emerging trends shaping the future of energy production until 2033.

Between 2002 and 2025, prices of OPEC Reference Basket oils fluctuated dramatically. For example, Saharan Blend from Algeria stood at some ** U.S. dollars per barrel in 2002. Ten years later, this figure had increased to more than *** U.S. dollars. In 2025, it stood at *****U.S. dollars. Oil prices: a rollercoaster ride Oil prices are inherently volatile due to the speculative nature of their price determination. Thus, sudden economic and geopolitical events may have big influences on pricing. For example, some of the major factors behind price fluctuation since the 2000s have been the global financial crisis in 2008, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the energy supply crisis and subsequent Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. As a result, the OPEC basket price has oscillated between lows of ** U.S. dollars and highs of *** U.S. dollars. Shale oil overproduction leads to 2010 oil glut The 2010s price crash was caused in part by ever-growing production of domestic shale and tight oil in the United States. Though nearly ** percent of global oil reserves can be found in OPEC countries, the United States has become the largest producer of oil worldwide in the last ten years.

The Haynesville Shale is a major natural gas play located in northwest Louisiana, east Texas, and southwest Arkansas.

View market daily updates and historical trends for Crude Oil to Natural Gas Price Ratio. Source: Energy Information Administration. Track economic data w…

As part of an overall program to study the economic feasibility of a small-scale western oil shale project, Western Research Institute requested J. E. Sinor Consultants Inc. to carry out a marketing analysis for the potential products. In undertaking such a study, it was recognized that the production of conventional fuels, such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel, would not be feasible under current economic conditions. Therefore, the approach used in this study was to focus on nonconventional products, having perhaps a small potential market size but providing an opportunity to sell shale oil at considerably more than its crude oil equivalent price. To find such potential market niches, it is necessary to emphasize and preserve the differences between shale oil and petroleum, rather than try to make shale oil simply a substitute for petroleum. The objectives of this analysis are to identify potential products; to determine the size of the existing market for these products; to estimate the prices that such products could receive; and to evaluate all factors influencing the ability to sell shale oil products in these markets. 23 refs., 47 figs., 52 tabs.

Replacement of retorting methods for releasing organic values from oil shales has been needed for years. The basic development of the existing retorting processes occurred 20 or more years ago. Not one of these has ever been able to compete with other investment opportunities, no matter what the price of petroleum was at the time. In general, as environmental controls were band aided onto each retorting process, its ability to compete eroded even further. Therefore, a strategic source of domestic mobile fuel had to be the primary incentive for continued development. As oil prices dropped, even interest to meet this objective declined. An entirely new approach has seemed necessary in order to reduce costs and make it easier to develop a strategic source of supply from oil shale.

Discover the booming shale oil and gas market trends, projected to reach $7.37 billion by 2033 with a 5% CAGR. Explore key drivers, restraints, and leading companies shaping this dynamic industry. Analyze regional market shares and future growth potential for shale oil and gas.

After some fluctuation in the oil industry's early years, where prices were incredibly high for that time period due to low supply, the cost of oil in the U.S. remained below five U.S. dollars per barrel in the century between the 1870s and 1970s. Due to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Arab OPEC states then placed an embargo on Israel's allies, particularly the United States, which resulted in domestic prices almost doubling within two years. Less than a decade later, due to the Iranian Revolution, domestic prices in the U.S. more than tripled between 1978 and 1981. Domestic prices in the U.S. were very subject to those within the OPEC bloc, as OPEC-produced oil was often much cheaper than U.S. oil even after duties and transport fees were applied. U.S. production then fell from the 1980s to the 2010s, and high production costs were then passed on to consumers. Prices peaked between 2008 and 2013, at around 95 dollars per barrel, before the developments in unconventional oil industries, such as shale oil refinement, fracking, and horizontal mining, have seen prices fluctuate in recent years

Argentina Oil & Gas Production Dataset (2009–2025)

Overview

This dataset provides a monthly panel of Argentina's oil and natural gas industry from 2009 onward. It integrates production data, geographic distribution by basin, unconventional resource development, drilling activity, and international oil prices.

The dataset was constructed by combining multiple public data sources from the Argentine Ministry of Energy and related government agencies, together with international oil price data from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data).

The goal of this dataset is to enable analysis of:

• the evolution of Argentina’s hydrocarbon production
• the expansion of unconventional resources (shale and tight)
• the role of the Vaca Muerta formation
• drilling activity and upstream investment
• the relationship between global oil prices and domestic production
• etc

Each row represents one month of observations.

Context

Argentina has experienced a major transformation in its hydrocarbon sector since the early 2010s due to the development of unconventional resources, particularly in the Vaca Muerta formation located in the Neuquén Basin.

This dataset allows users to study: - the shift from conventional to unconventional production - regional production dynamics across basins - drilling intensity and well completion activity - macroeconomic drivers such as oil prices

The time coverage starts in 2009, a period preceding the large-scale development of Vaca Muerta.

Data Sources

All production and drilling data were obtained from official Argentine government datasets:

Argentina Government Data

Secretaría de Energía – Subsecretaría de Transición y Planeamiento Energético

Datasets used include:

• Production of oil and gas by resource type
• Production by basin
• Non-conventional well production
• Drilling activity (wells completed and meters drilled)

Examples of source datasets:

• Producción de petróleo y gas (SESCO)
• Serie histórica de producción por cuenca
• Producción de pozos no convencionales
• Pozos terminados
• Metros perforados

International Oil Prices

Oil price data was obtained from:

FRED – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Series used:

DCOILBRENTEU

This series represents the daily Brent crude oil price (USD per barrel).

Daily values were aggregated into monthly averages to match the frequency of the production dataset.

Data Processing

The dataset was built by merging multiple monthly datasets using the fecha column as the time index.

Steps performed:

1. Conversion of all datasets to monthly frequency

2. Aggregation of well-level datasets into national monthly totals

3. Harmonization of units and variable names

4. Merging datasets into a unified panel structure

Key transformations include:

• Aggregation of daily Brent prices to monthly averages
• Summation of drilling activity across provinces and companies
• Aggregation of well-level production to national totals

Handling of Missing Data

Two minor imputations were performed due to missing values in the last month of the series (November 2025).

Basin Production

For basin production variables:

cuenca_neuquina cuenca_gsj cuenca_austral cuenca_noroeste cuenca_cuyana

The value for 2025-11 was missing in the source dataset.

The missing value was filled using forward fill (ffill), replicating the value from the previous month.

This method was chosen because:

• basin production changes gradually
• only the last observation was missing
• it preserves continuity in the time series

Wells Completed

For:

pozos_terminados

The missing value for 2025-11 was filled with 0.

This decision was made because:

• the source dataset did not yet include this month
• well completions represent discrete monthly events
• imputing zero is a conservative assumption

Data Dictionary

Each row represents a monthly observation.

Variable Description - fecha Monthly timestamp (YYYY-MM-01) - petroleo_convencional Monthly oil production from conventional reservoirs (m³) - petroleo_shale Monthly oil production from shale formations (m³) - petroleo_tight Monthly oil production from tight reservoirs (m³) - petroleo_total Total oil production (sum of all types) - gas_convencional Natural gas production from conventional reservoirs (m³) - gas_shale Natural gas production from shale formations (m³) - gas_tight Natural gas production from tight reservoirs (m³) - gas_total Total natural gas production - cuenca_neuquina Oil production from the Neuquén Basin - cuenca_gsj Oil production from the Golfo San Jorge Basin - cuenca_austral Oil production from the Austral Basin - cuenca_noroeste Oil production from the Northwest Basin - cuenca_cuyana Oil production from the Cuyo Basin - petroleo_no_conv Total non-conventional oil production - **gas_n...

Shale gas and tight oil production in the United States is forecast to increase to more than 35 trillion cubic feet by 2050, up from 29.4 trillion cubic feet in 2024. Shale gas refers to natural gas that is trapped within dense shale formations. Tight oil is crude oil contained in such rock formations. It is extracted by drilling wells and pumping a sand, water, and chemical mixture into the rock. The pressure under which the mixture is pushed into fissures cracks the rock open, allowing for the gas and oil to be removed. Origins of U.S. shale gas production The extraction of shale gas and tight oil in the U.S. has increased dramatically since 2000; from about 1.77 trillion cubic feet to over 29 trillion cubic feet in 2024. The economic viability of shale exploration is a result of technological advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), as well as a surge in oil benchmark prices in the late 2000s and early 2010s. China's fast-growing economy meant it required ever greater amounts of petroleum products, while the largest oil producing body, OPEC, tightly controlled production output in order to push prices higher. This led to the WTI crude oil price climbing to an annual average of nearly 100 U.S. dollars in 2008, despite the onset of the financial crisis. Although early shale pioneer Mitchell Energy had experimented with horizontal drilling and fracking, it took until the 2000s for the technology to hit off. Shale gas production is concentrated primarily in regions such as the Northeast and the Gulf Coast, with Appalachia being the most productive U.S. natural gas region. Fossil fuel reserves in the U.S. The United States had 17.4 trillion cubic meters of proved natural gas reserves, as of 2023. The North American country ranked fourth among the leading countries by proved natural gas reserves. Russia led the ranking with over 44 trillion cubic meters. The same year, U.S. oil reserves amounted to over 47 billion barrels, more than double the amount in 2000.

"An evaluation of the economics of mining the deep, thick oil shale deposits of the central portion of the Piceance Creek basin, Colorado, U.S.A. is presented this paper. For the analysis, a modified large scale underground mining system developed by Cameron Engineers, Inc . and the Gas Combustion retorting process developed by the U.S . Bureau of Mines were used to determine capital investment and annual operating costs. A modified risk analysis computer program was then used to calculate DCFROI's for various grades of oil shale and selling prices of partially refined shale oil. Sensitivity analyses were performed to quantify the affect of bonus bid payments, operating costs, capital investment, and all costs on DCFROI. In addition, a probabilistic evaluation was made to determine the risk involved in obtaining desired rates of return. Results of the economic evaluation indicate that for current selling prices of crude oil a high risk is involved in obtaining a DCFROI of 15%, unless only higher grades of oil shale are mined. However, mining only the higher grade oil shales , 125 1/mt (30 gpt) and above, would effectively reduce the potentially mineable resources by 90%. Risk can also be reduced through higher selling prices of shale oil . Sensitivity analyses indicate that the capital investment has a three times greater effect on required selling price than total operating costs."

The refining of shale oil is reviewed to assess the current state-of-the-art, especially as to the avaiability of technology suitable for operation on a commercial scale. Oil shale retorting processes as they affect the quality of the crude shale oil for refining, exploratory research on the character and refining of shale oil, and other published refining background leading to the present status are discussed. The initial refining of shale oil requires the removal of a large concentration of nitrogen, an added step not required for typical petroleum crude oils, and recently published estimates show that the total cost of refining will be high. Specific technoloy is reported by industry to be technically proven and available for commercial-scale refining. Although the refining will be more costly than that of petroleum, the viability of a shale oil industry will also be affected greatly by the technology and costs of producing the crude shale oil, environmental costs, and future price and tax treatment, and these are outside the scope of this study of refining.

The shale boom led to greater spillovers from oil investment to aggregate investment.

In this, the final publication of the series, the topics discussed in the two previous issues will be reviewed in detail. Current efforts towards developing the Green River shales will be identified. The properties of crude shale oils from several retorts will be listed, and the refining problems associated with these properties will be discussed. Finally, some of the complex economic, social, and political issues which govern the rate of oil shale development ill be presented.