Reflecting the impact of both the coronavirus pandemic and the global oil price war, natural gas and oil production from seven of the most prolific onshore U.S. unconventional plays is expected to decline in May compared with April, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Total gas production from the Anadarko, Appalachian and Permian basins, and the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Niobrara formations, is expected to be 83.16 Bcf/d next month, compared with 84.03 Bcf/d in April, according to EIA’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), which was released Monday.

Declines in gas production are expected next month in all seven plays, EIA said. The DPR includes forecasts of 6.83 Bcf/d in the Anadarko in May (compared with 7.05 Bcf/d in April); 31.89 Bcf/d in Appalachia (compared with 32.22 Bcf/d); 2.97 Bcf/d in the Bakken (compared with 3.01 Bcf/d); 6.84 Bcf/d in the Eagle Ford (compared with 6.95 Bcf/d); 12.00 Bcf/d in the Haynesville (compared with 12.09 Bcf/d); 5.58 Bcf/d in the Niobrara (compared with 5.64 Bcf/d); and 17.05 Bcf/d in the Permian (compared with 17.08 Bcf/d).

EIA also expects oil production to decline in each of the plays, with total production forecast to decline to 8.53 million b/d in May from 8.71 million b/d in April.

Decreases in oil production are expected in the Anadarko (462,000 b/d, compared with 483,000 b/d); the Appalachia (146,000 b/d, compared with 148,000 b/d); Bakken (1.36 million b/d, compared with 1.39 million b/d); Eagle Ford (1.30 million b/d, compared with 1.34 million b/d); Haynesville (36,000 b/d; compared with 37,000 b/d); Niobrara (714,000 b/d, compared with 734,000 b/d); and Permian (4.51 million b/d, compared with 4.58 million b/d).

EIA had forecast milder month/month decreases in the two previous DPRs, following more than three years of consecutive increases.

Drilled but uncompleted (DUC) well counts across the Big Seven ended March at 7,576, a decrease of 79 from February, EIA said. DUCs decreased in four plays, with the Anadarko down by 52 to 676, Appalachia by 18 to 544, the Eagle Ford by 18 to 1,350, and the Niobrara by 11 to 442. The Bakken added a dozen DUCs to reach 882 and the Permian added eight to reach 3,441.

The productivity of new gas wells in the Big Seven plays is expected to increase by 51 Mcf/d in May to 3.47 MMcf/d. At the same time, new well oil production per rig is expected to increase by 11 b/d during the month to 741 b/d.

EIA compiles the DPR using recent U.S. data on the total number of drilling rigs in operation along with estimates of drilling productivity and estimated changes in output from existing wells to provide estimated changes in production.