Crude oil storage tanks are seen in an aerial photograph at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S. April 21, 2020. REUTERS/Drone Base

NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) - Crude output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by 42,000 bpd in August, to 7.907 million bpd, compared with a 28,000 bpd rise in July, according to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) monthly drilling productivity report.

The forecast is led by growing production in the largest formation, the Permian Basin, where crude output is estimated to rise 53,000 bpd in the month, offsetting falling output expected from the Bakken formation of North Dakota.

Natural gas production from the major shale basins was expected to increase for a second month in a row, EIA said.

Total gas output will increase less than 0.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 85.5 bcfd in August. That compares with a monthly record high of 86.9 bcfd in December 2019.

Gas output in Appalachia, the biggest shale gas basin, was expected to decrease less than 0.1 bcfd to 34.4 bcfd in August. That compares with a monthly record of 35.6 bcfd in December 2020.

Gas output in the Haynesville in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas was expected to increase over 0.1 bcfd to a record 13.5 bcfd in August, according to EIA data going back to 2007.

EIA said producers drilled 549 wells and completed 818 in the biggest shale basins in June. That left total drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells down 269 to 6,252, their lowest since June 2018.

Reporting By Jessica Resnick-Ault and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall

Source: Reuters

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