A Huge Update On The Permian -- The Wall Street Journal

A huge update on the Permian:

 One of Texas' oldest oil fields, in decline for decades, has become one of the hottest places in the country to drill for crude, as energy companies create clusters of wells with layers of horizontal branches. The Permian Basin—86,000 square miles centered on Midland, Texas—has been pumping oil since the 1920s, though production peaked at about 2 million barrels a day in the early 1970s. For decades, geologists have known that oil could be found in different layers of rock piled up like a stack of geologic pancakes.

• Occidental Petroleum Inc., the largest producer in the Permian, said it plans to spend $500 million there in 2014 and has created a new "exploitation team" to identify more drilling locations. 
• Concho Resources Inc., one of dozens of smaller producers focusing on the Permian, is accelerating its growth plans over the next three years to double oil output by 2016. 
• And Apache Corp., the second-largest producer in the region, said its daily oil production in the Permian grew 18% to hit a record; it plans to increase its investments there following the recent sale of operations in Canada and Egypt.