[Motley Fool] With pipeline constraints stalling growth, several oil producers are starting to shift their focus to this emerging oil play.The Permian Basin, which stretches across western Texas and the southeast corner of New Mexico, is the fastest-growing oil-producing region in the world. Output currently stands at around 3.3 million barrels per day (BPD) and has increased an astounding 800,000 BPD over the past year, which represents more than half of the worldwide production increase. That fast-paced growth, however, is about to come to a screeching halt because there is only enough pipeline capacity to move 3.6 million BPD. While the industry is building new pipelines as fast as it can, the current bottleneck could last until late next year.
Because the Permian expects to slow to a crawl in the next year, it's opening the door for the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming to emerge as the industry's new growth engine. That gives producers with land in the region a leg up on the competition, which is why investors should put this area on their radar.