By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
Crude oil production on federal lands set a record last year, topping all but two states. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports record high production of 1.7 million barrels per day on federal lands, which would would place onshore federal leases third in the rankings of crude-producing states.
Total U.S. output has nearly tripled in the last 16 years, while output from federal lands is nearly six times higher during that same period. Most of the growth came in New Mexico within the Permian Basin.
Total U.S. crude production drops for the fourth week in a row. EIA reports average output of 13.27 million barrels a day, down 102,000 barrels from last week. The four-week average is still up slightly from a year ago. Output so far this year is two percent higher than last year at this time, at over 13.4 million barrels a day.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by 200,000 barrels to 402.5 million.
The government has not yet updated its announcement last week of the Emergency Exchange with ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the sixth largest refinery in the U.S. is dealing with supply complications brought on by tropical storms. Meanwhile maintenance issues at the SPR that could delay future refills.
Commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the SPR, dropped to 419 million barrels as of July 18. That's down by 3.2 million barrels from last week. EIA says U.S. crude oil inventories are about nine percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
The U.S. is a net petroleum exporter by nearly three million barrels a day. The government says crude oil imports surpass exports by 2.1 million barrels a day, but exports of refined products outpace imports by nearly five million.
Crude imports drop nearly half a million barrels a day from last week to just under six million. The four-week average is down seven percent from last year. Weekly exports are up more than 300-thousand barrels a day to nearly 3.86 million.
There are some big swings among the details in this week's Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes. The total of 415 oil rigs is down by seven from a week ago, while the gas tally of 122 rigs is up five. The report from Texas is down four rigs, New Mexico is down one, Wyoming is down two. Colorado is up three rigs, while Louisiana rose by two rigs.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is down 18 percent from a week ago, up 64% from a month ago and down 33% from a year ago. In western Kansas, the tally was up three rigs a week ago, but it's down four rigs today at seven active rigs.
Kansas operators completed 27 wells this week including three in Barton County and one in Stafford County. Completions are down 18 wells from a year ago.
Regulators okayed 18 new drilling locations in Kansas, including one in Ellis County out of eight located in the western half of the state.
Permits, year-to-date, total 409 statewide, which is down from 570 a year ago.
The top ten operators in western Kansas for the first half of this year account for 79 wells and more than 342,000 feet of well bore drilled between them. Independent Oil and Gas Service ranks the most prolific Western Kansas operators for the first six months of 2025. The top five are Merit Energy, Berexco, Murfin Drilling, American Warrior, and Darrah Oil. The next five: Ritchie Exploration, Grand Mesa, Downing-Nelson, Carmen Schmidt and Shakespeare Oil.
The top operators east of Wichita include R-J Energy, Colt Energy, A-G-V Corp. HYT Operating, and VAL Energy. Those are followed by RH Capital-Beets, L&A Energy, MLT Energy. Altavista Energy and Utah Oil.