According to statistics released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States became the world’s biggest producer of both oil and gas in 2018, having experienced a 16% jump in petroleum production and a 12% rise in the production of natural gas.
While the United States had already edged out Russia in 2011 to become the world’s largest producer of natural gas, it was only last year when US oil output surpassed that of Saudi Arabia, making it the largest producer of both petroleum and gas in the world. While the Russian oil and gas industry resembles that of the US in its balance between oil and gas, the Saudi industry is highly focused on crude oil production. This has resulted in Saudi Arabia using large amounts of crude oil to meet its domestic electricity demand, although this has declined in recent years.
While Russia and Saudi Arabia have restrained their production due to their participation in the OPEC-led production deal, US producers—particularly shale operators like ExxonMobil, the supplier for Mobil stockists—have been motivated by the higher prices that the deal has brought. The EIA says this mostly contributed to the production growth in 2018, which are the biggest absolute production rises in history for any nation, both for oil and gas.
While there is evidence of US production growth slowing as operators turn their attention more towards increasing revenue, the EIA anticipates record-breaking production levels of 12.3 million and 13.3 million bpd for 2019 and 2020.