http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1250349.ece

US shale plays such as the Bakken in North Dakota will more than double output in the next two decades, according to the first official forecast for booming tight-oil production, published by the US government on Monday.

The projections, one small part of the Energy Information Administration’s updated long-term forecasts, shed light on the agency’s take on the role of the oil found in low-permeability reservoirs such as shale and chalk formations, the largest new source of US supply since offshore Gulf of Mexico.

US output from eight tight-oil prospects covered by the report will more than double to 1.23 million barrels per day by 2035 from 2011 levels, the EIA said, breaking out specific data on tight oil production for the first time in its 2012 Annual Energy Outlook, according to Reuters. …

The report considers output from the Bakken, the Eagle Ford in Texas, the Niorbrara in Colorado and Wyoming, the tight-oil plays such as the Spraberry and Avalon-Bone Springs in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, and the Monterey shale in California, among others.

Output from the Bakken and Three Forks shale in North Dakota, the most prolific tight oil prospect in the US, reached 545,000 bpd in April, according to data from the North Dakota Industrial Commision.

Eagle Ford output is on its way to match Bakken’s, after output reached 520,000 bpd in April, according to research firm Bentek Energy.

Energy companies have also set their sights on burgeoning oil plays like the Utica shale in Ohio, whose oil output is yet unknown. The EIA’s latest report does not include projected Utica production.