Texas Crude Oil Production Tops 111 Million Barrels in July, Despite Sinking Prices

Texas crude oil production is still on the rise, despite a price decline of more than 50 percent over the past year. Preliminary numbers indicate that Texas crude oil production topped 111 million barrels in July, up nearly 15 percent compared to July of 2014.

"In prior periods where crude oil prices have declined, and we've watched these dominoes, production is always the last domino to fall, and it occurs months after other measures of activity have peaked," says Karr Ingham, petroleum economist for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.

Crude oil prices peaked above $107 dollars a barrel in June of last year. However, drilling permits and rig counts continued to rise through the end of 2014, when oil prices sank to the $40 range.

"We're easily into 2016, and probably the latter part of 2016, before we see these market circumstances begin to straighten themselves out," Ingham says, "and that is to say enough decline in production to begin to provide some real upside support to crude oil prices."

The drop in prices has already taken a steep toll on other measures of Texas oil and gas activity. The industry has cut nearly 24,000 jobs since the end of last year.