OREANDA-NEWS. Crude output in top-producing Texas fell by 2.3pc in January compared to year-earlier levels, amid falling rig counts and lower prices.

January marked the first year-over-year decline in Texas output in 19 months since the start of the current price collapse, according to the Texas Petro Index, a monthly report by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The January total was an estimated 102.2mn bl or about 3.3mn b/d.

"Although the decline was modest, we can expect the pace of production decline in Texas and the US to accelerate in 2016," said economist Karr Ingham, who produces the Texas Petro Index. The value of Texas-produced crude totaled nearly $2.92bn in January, or 36.8pc lower than in January 2015.

Ingham estimates that the Texas oil and gas industry lost about 76,000 jobs through January from peak employment of 306,000 in December 2014.

The last time the crude price and the rig count were at present levels, upstream oilfield employment in Texas dropped to about 130,000, far below the January estimate of about 230,000. This suggests more job losses are inevitable.

"The bloodletting in Texas' upstream oil and gas industry will continue as the year progresses," Ingham said.

Other states are also seeing output declines in recent month as lower prices and falling rig counts are finally taking a toll on production.

In North Dakota, home of the Bakken shale, crude output fell by 2.5pc in December compared to the previous month, according to the most recent state figures. Production there averaged 1.15mn b/d, down by about 29,500 b/d from November.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) also releases monthly production data for states. The EIA said this week that output in Texas in December was down by 1.9pc.