Washington (Platts)--12Feb2013/112 pm EST/1812 GMT

US crude oil production will continue to rise this year and next, although by slightly lower rates than was projected in January, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in its February Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Production from tight oil plays in the Williston Basin in Montana and North and South Dakota, and the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico , along with tight oil production from the Western Gulf of Mexico, should boost crude output to an average of 7.25 million b/d in 2013, the EIA said.

That figure is down slightly from the 7.32 million b/d the EIA had forecast in its January STEO.

Onshore tight oil production will also be the driving force behind a rise in total domestic crude output to an average of 7.82 million b/d in 2014, the EIA said. That projection is down slightly from the 7.92 million b/d the EIA had forecast in January.

Production from Alaskan fields is expected to decline from an average of 530,000 b/d in 2012 to an average of 500,000 b/d in 2013 and 470,000 b/d in 2014, the EIA said.

Gulf of Mexico production, by contrast, should rise to an average of 1.4 million b/d in 2013, compared to the 1.3 million b/d in 2012, which represented a drop from 2011 levels.

In 2014, Gulf of Mexico production should rise again to an average of 1.45 million b/d as several high volume deepwater projects begin production, the EIA said.

--Gary Gentile, gary_gentile@platts.com --Edited by Katharine Fraser, katharine_fraser@platts.com

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