EIA saw slightly lower June oil production in new survey

EIA creates new survey to measure US oil production

• June oil production at 9.3 million barrels per day vs 9.4mbpd in May
• Jan-May production revised downward by 40-130K bpd
• Oil production for the first six months of 2015 averaged 9.4mpbd

The EIA revealed the new metric in a press release titled 'EIA improves monthly reporting of crude oil production'. It promises to be an important (although laggy) release.

They note that because of rapidly growing domestic production, policymakers and market participants are closely watching how producers respond and this survey is a response to demands for better data.

"The expanded survey collects monthly oil production data from a sample of operators of oil and natural gas wells in 15 individual states and the federal Gulf of Mexico; production from all remaining states and the federal Pacific is reported collectively in an "other states" category ... The survey-based approach improves estimates by representing more than 90% of oil production in the United States," they say.

The data will be released on the final day of each month.