something slightly different. But that's not the point. The point is that Covid did a number on the oil industry. There was a mass shedding of workers, consolidation and complete shut downs in drilling. In the unconventional oil era, you won't restore production quickly. Too many wells have to be drilled because the wells that are drilled deplete quickly and do not have great yields. It will be back up to pre-covid production levels eventually. But it's ultimately unsustainable. Some of the big early generation frack plays are already showing signs of depletion.
Here is the source data:
https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/production/#:~:text=thousand%20barrels%20per%20day%20U.S.%20crude%20oil%20production,10%2C000%2012%2C500%2015%2C000%20Source%3A%20U.S.%20Energy%20Information%20Administration
I suspect there have been some adjustments made since the chart you show was published.
Edited by KC rules at 11:33:47 on 10/12/22