Production of crude oil, natural gas and condensate out of the Barnett Shale all continued to decline in June compared to both the previous month and to June 2012, according to data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).

Total natural gas production in the Barnett in June was 143.1 Bcf, a 19% decline compared with 177.2 Bcf in June 2012. Gas production was also lower than it had been in the Barnett in May (153.7 Bcf) and was lower than the Barnett averaged over the previous 12 months (165.8 Bcf), according to RRC data.

The Barnett produced 208,057 bbl of crude oil in June, a 47% decline from 392,568 bbl in June 2012 and it was significantly lower than the 290,908 bbl/month the Barnett average between June 2012 and May 2013. Oil production in the Barnett was 231,952 bbl in May, according to RRC data.

Condensate production fell even more sharply to 180,938 bbl in June, a 54% decline compared with 395,204 bbl in June 2012 and well off the 327,905 bbl average over the preceding 12 months. Condensate production was 218,623 bbl in May.

The RRC said it issued a total of 577 Barnett drilling permits this year through July, on pace to nearly equal the 1,182 issued for full-year 2012. The state issued a peak 4,065 Barnett permits in 2008.

Last month, RRC data indicated that oil production across all of Texas reached 52.22 million bbl of crude oil in May, up from 51.69 million bbl in April (see Shale Daily, July 24). But it was the Eagle Ford Shale that got much of the credit for growing Texas oil production. A Bloomberg analysis of RRC data representing the majority of the play showed that Eagle Ford oil production climbed 58% in May from a year earlier to 581,923 b/d.

The Barnett Shale’s natural gas production potential is “slowly declining;” however, total resource recovery from the granddaddy of shale plays is expected to be three times what has been produced to date, according to recent research (see Shale Daily, March 1). Barnett production is expected to slowly decline through 2030 and beyond, the researchers said.

Natural gas production in the Barnett was 1.92 Tcf in 2012, down from 2.01 Tcf in 2011, according to RRC data and NGI’s Shale Daily calculations.