The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City today forecasted that domestic oil production could fall by as much as 8 percent in 2015. The central bank said oil and gas production has increased by more than 50 percent since 2005, but things could be sliding backward with low prices. “With oil prices at about half their summer 2014 level, will the investment continue to be profitable and boost production?” asked Nida Çakır Melek, an economist in the Regional Affairs Department for the Kansas City Fed. The answer, she said, probably lies in the rig count. “Despite highly productive new wells and an increase in the number of wells drilled per rig, U.S. oil production could decline from 0.7 to 8 percent in 2015, due in part to the significant decline in rig counts and depletion in existing wells,” she said. The rig count is faltering, too. According to Baker-Hughes […]