HOUSTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Marathon Oil Corp. said U.S. oil production increased primarily from operations at the Eagle Ford shale play in southern Texas and similar basins.
Marathon Oil President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Tillman said his company's "sharp focus" on operations at core shale assets in the United States resulted in major production gains last year.
"In particular, our strong year-over-year net production growth in the top U.S. liquids resource plays -- 136 percent in the Eagle Ford [in Texas], 34 percent in the Bakken [in North Dakota] and 68 percent in the Oklahoma resource basins -- demonstrated our ability to drive superior operating results," he said in a statement Wednesday.
For Eagle Ford, Marathon said daily production during the fourth quarter averaged 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent, a 9.7 increase from the previous quarter.
Bakken, spread over western North Dakota, gave up approximately 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for Marathon, an increase of 8,000 barrels per day from the third quarter.
In Oklahoma, the company said daily production averaged 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent, but offered no comparison in its statement from the previous quarter.
Marathon, nevertheless, said production from some other assets outside the United States was down and overall profits for the fourth quarter declined.
