U.S. oil production forecasts for 2017 and 2018 have been boosted significantly as a result of rising prices as well as improved modeling techniques for predicting output down to the well level. Crude production is expected to reach 9.53 million barrels per day (bpd) in December 2017, according to the latest forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Forecast output for December 2017 has been revised up from 8.29 million bpd when the agency prepared its predictions in March last year ( tmsnrt.rs/2moZoqc ). The forecasts are contained in the “Short-Term Energy Outlook” EIA publishes every month. Forecast output has been revised higher every month since September 2016. Revisions are concentrated in output from the Lower 48 states, excluding federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, so they are mostly about shale output, rather than […]