Shale producer Devon Energy Corp has curtailed roughly 10,000 barrels per day of oil production, its chief executive said at an energy conference on Tuesday, but said Devon still expects to end the year with output flat with 2019 levels, as reported by Reuters.
U.S. oil and gas companies have slashed spending and pared production amid a sharp slide in prices that began in March as the COVID-19 pandemic crushed fuel demand. U.S. shale production is anticipated to fall to a two-year low of 7.63 million barrels per day in July, according to the U.S Energy Information Administration.
Devon’s chief executive, Dave Hager, downplayed the company’s production cutbacks as “not very much,” and predicted output would ultimately be about flat with last year.
Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Energy, Power and Renewables conference, Hager said he does not expect additional production curtailments with current oil prices above $30 a barrel.
U.S. oil futures settled at $38.38 Tuesday
Devon plans to run two hydraulic fracturing crews in the second half of the year, and expects to exit 2020 with a backlog of 100 drilled-but-uncompleted wells. It will exit June with eight rigs operating.
Hager also said he was confident Devon would close on the previously announced sale of its Barnett Shale assets to Thailand-based investment group Banpu Kalnin ventures. The deal was announced in December, but was restructured and the closing was delayed after oil prices crashed.
Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler
