Tuesday, October 23, 2012

U.S. on Pace to Become Biggest Oil Producer


The U.S. oil production is surging so rapidly that the United States could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer in less than two years. The U.S Energy Department forecasts that U.S. oil output will average 11.4 million barrels per day in 2013, a record for the U.S. and just below Saudi output of 11.6 million b/d. This year, the U.S. production will average 10.9 million b/d. (AP, 23 October)
The high oil prices and new drilling methods are said to be the main factors behind a 7 percent rise in production this year.  
The U.S. will still need to import oil in the years ahead (the country uses 18.7 million barrels per day.) But because of the growing domestic production and the improving fuel efficiency of U.S. cars and trucks, imports could fall by half by the end of the decade.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...


it's far, far better for the US to obtain imported oil from Mexico and Canada, as it does, and cut out the third leading supplier.



oil imports for the US must fall so that we're no longer in need of Saudi oil and can happily see the ugly government of Saudi Arabia transformed right after the ugly government of Iran.

Anonymous said...

This is all a lie, only the high technology of Iran can find & produce such large volumes of oil, everyone knows this, the US is only trying to lower oil prices, it will not work.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:53 AM

"The high technology of Iran can find such large volumes of oil,"

Are you serious?

Anonymous said...

6:53--- you're so right ( as carly sang)

there really is no oil in iran, but they're so, so high tech that they synthesize it out of goat dung, old carpets and pistachio shells.

Matt said...

What matters is crude oil

US crude oil production 2011: 5,658 kb/d

Saudi crude oil production 2011: 9,458 kb/d

From:

http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=5&pid=57&aid=1&cid=regions&syid=1980&eyid=2011&unit=TBPD

Anonymous said...

The Proven Oil reserves is what really matters for future; According to U.S. Energy Information (In Billions of Barrels):
Saudi Arabia (262.6)
Venezuela (211.2)
Canada (175.2)
Iran (137.0)
Iraq (115.0)
Kuwait (104.0)
United Arab Emirates (97.8)
Russia (60.0)

and

United States (21.0*) According to Wikipedia as EIA no longer publishes this.

Surenas said...

@Anonymous 12:02

Those oil-reserve numbers are often exaggerated. Its true reserves may be half of what we've been told they are. Oil reserve estimates are based on data provided by oil-proucing countries and oil companies. They're not independently audited, and the numbers are impossible to corroborate. The higher reserves an OPEC member claims, the higher the OPEC quota it's allotted, and the more oil it's allowed to 'lift', or pump out. And of course, the more barrels of oil a company 'books', the higher its stock prices - and the higher the bonuses for its executives.

Not surprisingly, it has been well established that some countries and companies systematically overestimate their reserves. Several years ago, Royal Dutch Shell was caught and fined, and its stock was downgraded. Other major oil companies have been luckier. Still, their data is notoriously unreliable.

The more reliable way to calculate reserves is by looking at production date - how much oil is actually lifted from a particular field. Based on inflated industry and company estimates, the remaining proven reserves worldwide amount to 1.255 trillion barrels. But if we go by actual production, according to the respected, independent Energy Watch Group, oil reserves in fact are closer to 845 billion barrels. Energy Watch Group believes that Middle Eastern reserves are overestimated more than most. Officially, they're put at 677 billion barrels. But calculated on the basis of production, they're more like 362 billion barrels - a little over half what is claimed.

The number for each country tells the same story. Saudi Arabia, rather than possessing the 286 billion barrels it claims, has only about 181 billion barrels. Iraq claims 99 billion barrels, but in fact has 41 billion. Kuwait claims 51 billion but has closer to 35 billion. As for iran, it has just 43.5 billion, rather than the 134 billion barrels it claims.