American exploration and production firms’ (E&P) continued to drive oil output at strong levels over the last two weeks, though activity slipped from the highs of the year.

E&Ps generated 12.2 million b/d for the week ended March 10, even with the prior week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Wednesday. The last two EIA prints, however, fell 100,000 b/d shy of the February average. The production level last month also matched the high point of both 2023 and the pandemic era that began in March 2020.

The latest EIA result topped the year-earlier level of 11.6 million b/d and kept crude stocks at a strong surplus relative to historic averages. Inventories for the March 10 period, excluding those in the Strategic...