SM Energy Says It May Shift Drilling Out of Utah's Uinta Basin in Early 2027 as Takeaway Bottlenecks Keep Limiting Output in Uintah County
U.S. oil and gas producer SM Energy said on November 4 that, with takeaway bottlenecks persisting, it may temporarily shift some drilling away from Utah's Uinta Basin to other areas in early 2027, until new takeaway capacity comes online.
According to Reuters' November 4 report, SM Energy said on its earnings call that it is evaluating a drilling reallocation while awaiting additional takeaway capacity. The Uinta Basin is rich in oil and gas, but crude produced there requires specialized transportation and takeaway capacity is limited. A planned crude terminal expansion is expected to ease the bottleneck by increasing rail-loading capacity, but the constraints are expected to last until the expansion enters service in early 2027.
SM Energy also disclosed that an unplanned outage and refinery disruption in the basin reduced its third-quarter oil production by about 4,000 barrels per day; the refinery has returned to service, but rail-capacity constraints persist. The company reported third-quarter net income of $93 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, on November 3, down from $155 million a year earlier; it narrowed its full-year 2026 capital spending outlook to about $2.75 billion and lowered its oil production forecast by 1%, to 220,000 to 222,000 barrels per day.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：犹他州 US-191 公路沿线油田（尤因塔盆地地区）。Don Barrett 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: An oil field along US-191 in the Uinta Basin region of Utah. By Don Barrett, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
