Fixed Income

MuniLand Part 2 of 4 — Falling Crude Oil Prices and Muni Credit: Major Shifts

Published

January 23, 2015

The United States has just experienced a major shift in crude oil production.

The pie charts and the line graph below show just how quickly crude oil production has shifted and increased in recent years. Crude oil production has been shifting away from Alaska and California to North Dakota and Texas. Though these four states continue to represent the majority of U.S. crude oil production, over the last five years, Alaska and California total combined crude oil production fell by half from 34.1% of to 17.5% of the U.S. total. Conversely, Texas and North Dakota total crude oil production skyrocketed from 34.4% to 55.4%. Crude oil production continues to fall in Alaska and California and increase in Texas and North Dakota (see line chart).

The shifting crude oil production landscape will negatively impact Alaska and will be neutral for North Dakota and Colorado. Check out next week’s note for specific credit comments on these three states.

^{Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency}