> The latest US data is inconclusive as to whether the country’s oil output has peaked following a 60% fall off in active drilling rigs since last October.

> For April, the last month for which the US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has supplied complete data, US crude production was 9.70mn b/d, a record. Petroleum liquids output, including a record 3.31mn b/d of NGLs, was also a record at 13.01mn, while broader ‘oil’ production including ethanol and biofuels was a record 14.08mn b/d. These numbers are up 1.15mn b/d, 1.54mn b/d and 1.56mn b/d respectively on year-ago levels. Since 2011, crude production is up by over 4mn b/d; including NGLs the gains are over 5mn b/d (see table p15 and graph). (CONTINUED - 540 WORDS)