(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil production rose 241,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 2.1 percent, in March to 11.905 million bpd, just below its record high, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its monthly 914 production report on Friday.
That monthly increase in U.S. production from a revised 11.664 million bpd in February followed two months of declines in January and February. U.S. monthly output peaked at 11.966 million bpd in December.
Most of the increase came from the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico, which rose 11.1% to 1.907 million bpd, and North Dakota, which gained 3.2% to 1.352 million bpd.
Output in Texas, the biggest oil producing state, meanwhile, eased 0.1 percent to 4.873 million bpd.
Meanwhile, monthly gross natural gas production in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to a fresh record high 99.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in March from the prior high of 99.1 bcfd in February, according to the report.
Those gains were driven by an 8.7% rise in the Gulf of Mexico to 2.9 bcfd and a 7.2% increase in North Dakota to a record high 2.8 bcfd.
In Texas, the biggest gas producing state, output declined 0.9% to 26.4 bcfd from a monthly record high 26.6 bcfd in February.
In Pennsylvania, the second-biggest gas-producing state, output rose 0.7% to a record high 18.8 bcfd.