Oil output from seven major shale formations in the United States is expected to rise by 79,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to 7.6 million bbl/d in October, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Sept. 17.

Surging oil output from shale formations boosted total U.S. crude production to a record high of nearly 10.7 million bbl/d in June, the latest month for which data is available.

Production is expected to rise 31,000 bbl/d in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the EIA said in a monthly report.

Output from five other major shale formations is expected to rise in the month. Output in the Haynesville Shale, the smallest of the seven plays that the EIA tracks, was expected to be unchanged at 43,000 bbl/d in the month.

Production per rig from new wells was expected to rise in all formations except for the Permian Basin, where it was expected to decline by 9 bbl/d.

Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production was projected to increase to a record 73.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in October. That would be up almost 1 Bcf/d over the September forecast and would be the ninth monthly increase in a row.

In October 2017 output was just 60.3 Bcf/d.

The EIA projected gas output would increase in all the big shale basins in October.

Output in the Appalachia region, the biggest shale gas play, was set to rise almost 0.3 Bcf/d to a record high of 29.4 Bcf/d in October. Production in Appalachia was 24.2 Bcf/d in the same month a year ago.

EIA said producers drilled 1,520 wells and completed 1,282 in the biggest shale basins in August, leaving total drilled but uncompleted wells up 238 at a record high 8,269, according to data going back to December 2013.

That was the most wells drilled and completed in a month since early 2015, according to EIA data.

Onshore