Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday four core U.S. onshore operating plays — the Wattenberg Field in Colorado, the Greater Natural Buttes in Utah, and the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales — eclipsed production records in November, with each one exceeding a gross processed production milestone of 100,000 boe/d.

“Our ability to continue driving production growth in a very capital-efficient manner supports our confidence in the portfolio’s ability to deliver full-year sales volumes within guidance (265 to 267 million boe) on the strength of U.S. oil and natural gas production, which is expected to offset our decision to reject ethane in certain fields,” said CEO Al Walker.

Anadarko expects to deliver solid results “while improving our direct oil and gas operating costs by an additional 15 cents/boe in the fourth quarter to a new range of $3.90 to $4.00/boe.”

Anadarko also broke records for onshore domestic output in 3Q2012, with a big lift in Wattenberg’s operations (see Shale Daily, Oct. 31). Total quarterly sales volumes in the third quarter were above the high end of guidance at 68 million boe, or 739,000 boe/d, which was an increase year/year of 79,000 boe/d. The company also achieved better-than-expected record U.S. liquids sales volumes of 322,000 b/d, about 73% of which was oil.

The Wattenberg Field’s sales volumes are on track to increase in the final three months of this year by more than 10% from the third quarter, the company said.

“This growth rate is highlighted by the performance of the horizontal program, which recently established a gross production record of more than 45,000 boe/d. Additionally in the field, the company continues to enhance its capital efficiency by optimizing lateral lengths, completions stages and well density, while increasing the footage drilled and reducing drilling cycle times.”

In the Eagle Ford Shale, drilling cycle times in the fourth quarter to date “have averaged less than 9.5 days per well, representing a 25% improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, with a recent all-time record of 5.4 days for a 12,000-foot well.”

The Woodlands, TX-based operator said it also is hitting production records in its liquids-rich East Texas horizontal program, as well as in the Permian Basin’s Avalon and Bone Spring formations.