Business Insider: "The US produces more oil than any country in history"

U.S. oil production has topped every historical record for six years in a row, and the latest record set last year is unlikely to be surpassed by any other competing producer in the near term, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (IEA), wrote Business Insider.

U.S. crude oil and condensate production averaged 12.9 million barrels per day last year, above the global record of 12.3 million barrels per day in 2019. Also in December 2023, a new monthly record of more than 13.3 million barrels per day, according to the mentioned source.

That's a remarkable turnaround from the previous 62-year low in 2008, according to S&P Global, which likely surprised analysts. Moreover, active rigs have shrunk 69 percent from 2014 to the present, but technological advances have massively increased the efficiency of U.S. production, according to another Administration report. Last year's production boom was led by private firms, with the top five companies accounting for a third of the average annual increase in Permian crude oil production since 2019.

"At the moment, global competition has little chance of reaching the same levels record", according to the AIE In total, the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia supplied 40 percent of global crude output last year, which was however limited by OPEC+ cuts as well as other voluntary cuts. Russia's annual production peaked in 2019 at 10.8 million barrels per day, while Saudi Arabia's record 10.6 million barrels per day was reached in 2022. In January, the state oil giant Aramco has ended plans to expand production capacity, citing the transition to green energy.

"By comparison, the next three producing countries - Canada, Iraq and China - produced a combined 13.1 million barrels per day in 2023, slightly more than the United States' output," the agency wrote in the report.

It's unclear whether the U.S. can surpass last year's record. The success of private operations has led to a series of mergers as public firms have increased their presence in the Permian Basin - the epicenter of US crude oil production. According to analysts, this is likely to flatten U.S. output as public companies have different financial priorities, such as reducing the number of rigs or less drilling activity, according to Business Insider.