But from then on, production in even the Permian began steadily declining as the conventionally easy-to-access oil in large pools beneath the surface began running out.
Bnef predicts output in the Permian basin could rise by as much as 1m bpd by the end of 2023; ExxonMobil, an oil major, plans to increase output there by a quarter this year.
She said unlike the animals that came before us during the Permian Period, " we actually have the ability to do something to prevent this kind of ecosystem crisis from happening again."
In 2012, the first successful horizontal shale well was drilled in the Permian, and the fracking boom had come to what had once been America's greatest oil field.