NEW YORK: Oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest US shale oil basin, will rise 71,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 5.205 million bpd in March, the US Energy Information Administration, or EIA, said in its productivity report on Monday. Total output in the major US shale oil basins will rise 109,000 bpd to 8.707 million bpd in March, the most since March 2020, the EIA projected. In the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, the EIA projected oil output will rise 6,000 bpd to 1.198 million bpd in March, the most since November 2020. In the Eagle Ford in South Texas, output will rise 24,000 bpd to 1.146 million bpd in March, its highest since April 2020. Total natural gas output in the shale basins will increase 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to a record 91.7 bcfd in March, EIA projected. But productivity in the biggest oil and gas basins has declined since hitting records of new oil well production per rig of 1,546 bpd in December 2020 in the Permian and new gas well production per rig of 33.3 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in March 2021 in Appalachia. In March, EIA expects new oil well production per rig will drop to 1,178 bpd in the Permian, the lowest since August 2020, and new gas well production per rig will drop to 30.4 mmcfd in Appalachia, the lowest since October 2020. The EIA said producers drilled 710 wells, the most since April 2020, and completed 901, the most since March 2020, in the biggest shale basins in January. Richard Chang and Marguerita Choy)