New Mexico oil, gas production up by 10% despite pandemic April 1, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico has reported that oil and gas production increased by more than 10% last year compared to the year before even as demands for fuel dropped during the coronavirus pandemic. Data from the state's oil conservation division showed the state produced about 370 million barrels of oil in 2020 compared to about 330 million barrels of oil produced in 2019, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported Tuesday. Although last year produced the highest amount of oil since the division began tracking production in the 1970s, officials said rate of growth dropped from a 33% increase between 2018, which yielded about 250 million barrels of oil, and 2019.