New shale oil well productivity drove U.S. production higher in the last few years, with the average daily rate for the first month of operation rising from less than 100 barrels for most shale plays to between 200 and more than 600 barrels, the Energy Information Administration said in a new report . Image courtesy: EIA Last year, the energy authority said, shale oil production came to account for 54 percent of the United States’ overall oil production, in part thanks to this higher new-well productivity. The EIA said this higher productivity was the result of a combination of factors including the wider use of hydraulic fracturing and the drilling of more—and longer—horizontal wells, but most notably the increase in the amounts of frac sand used in new wells. This combination of factors helped shale drillers to stay afloat and keep production going even during the downturn. In 2015 […]