America becomes the world's largest oil producer after overtaking Russia and Saudi Arabia for the first time in 45 years

By Namrata Tripathi
Updated On : 03:59 PST, Sep 21, 2018

The United States has reportedly overtaken Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the top oil-producing country, the first time in over four decades, according to analysts.

New data states that the US surpassed Saudi Arabia for monthly crude oil production in February this year and possibly overtook Russian some time in June or August, the Daily Mail reported. This would mark the first time since 1973 that the US has topped world rankings.

The latest figures, which are based on preliminary estimates published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week, comes after the development of fracking led to a boost in shale oil production and reduced drilling costs by a significant margin.

A pipeline carries oil September 20, 2000 at the Federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve facility known as Big Hill near Beaumont, Texas.

The EIA said that after studying the latest figures, it has concluded that the US will continue to hold its top position on the chart for the coming months in 2018 and also throughout next year.

Reports state that America's oil production began to increase rapidly from 2012 onwards after producing less than 6million barrels of oil per month between 2000 and 2011. The figures for oil production in the country have nearly doubled in the last six years.

Pump jacks and wells are seen in an oil field on the Monterey Shale formation where gas and oil extraction using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is on the verge of a boom on March 23, 2014 near McKittrick, California.

Texas is reportedly at the center of this boom in oil production, particularly the Permian Basin in the west of the American state. Reports state that the state now produces so much oil that it would be ranked third in the world if it were a country, ranking ahead of major oil-producing countries like Iran and Iraq.

A change in the law in 2015 also assisted in boosting production after US companies were permitted to export crude oil for the first time in 40 years.

The bow of the oil tanker 'Nor'Easter,' the last ship able to leave due to deteriorating weather conditions, departs Boston Harbor on March 21, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Considering the massive production of oil on its soil, the US has also climbed up the rankings in terms of energy security, as it relies less on foreign imports to fulfill its energy requirements now.

According to latest reports released by the EIA, it is projected that the US oil production, as a whole, would reach an average 12million b/d+ in 2020 and the US shale production could reach 10 million b/d by the end of the year 2020.

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