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US Remains Worlds Largest Oil Producer

By:
Barry Norman
Updated: May 24, 2016, 04:12 UTC

A new EIA report showed that the US continues to hold on to its position as the top global energy producer.  Although attacks on the price of oil by OPEC

US Remains Worlds Largest Oil Producer

A new EIA report showed that the US continues to hold on to its position as the top global energy producer.  Although attacks on the price of oil by OPEC members led US suppliers to cut production and reduce future projects. The United States remained the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2015, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. U.S. petroleum and natural gas production first surpassed Russia in 2012, and the United States has been the world’s top producer of natural gas since 2011 and the world’s top producer of petroleum hydrocarbons since 2013.

oil production

For the United States and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and natural gas. Saudi Arabia’s production, on the other hand, heavily favors petroleum. Total petroleum production is made up of several different types of liquid fuels, including crude oil and lease condensate, tight oil, extra-heavy oil, and bitumen. In addition, various processes produce natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, and refinery processing gain, among other possible liquid fuels.

WTI oil prices dipped farther in the morning session to trade at 47.98 down by 10cents while Brent oil fell 17 cents to 48.18. Both oil benchmarks were trading well into the $49 price level late last week and looked headed above $50 but could not hold the higher prices.

crude oil

In contrast to past actions to raise or lower oil production levels to balance global oil markets, Saudi Arabia did not reduce petroleum production in late 2014 or 2015, even as oil prices fell and global inventories of oil rose. As a result, Saudi Arabia’s total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production rose by 3% in 2015. Still, the United States produced more than twice the petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons as Saudi Arabia produced in 2015.

After failing to reach an accord on oil supply in Doha last month, OPEC is poised to go another meeting with no agreement on how much crude to produce.

All but one of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries won’t set an output target on June 2, as it sticks with Saudi Arabia’s strategy to squeeze out rivals including U.S. shale drillers by pumping near-record volumes. An accord on an output cap with non-members such as Russia collapsed in Doha last month when Saudi officials insisted Iran would need to take part.

Oil has rebounded almost 80 percent to about $48 a barrel in London from the 12-year low reached in January as depressed prices take their toll on supplies. The International Energy Agency and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. say the crude glut is dissipating, signaling that the Saudi approach — opposed by most OPEC members when it was unveiled in late 2014 — is finally paying off.

brent oil

Nigeria plans to initiate fresh moves to privatize its four ailing refineries before the end of this year, as it seeks to boost domestic fuel supply after abolishing payment of costly subsidy on imports, the local Punch newspaper reported Friday.

U.S. commercial crude oil stocks likely fell by around 2.5 million barrels to 538.8 million in the week ended May 20, a preliminary Reuters analysts’ poll taken ahead of weekly industry and official inventory data showed on Monday. (Reuters)

Gasoline stocks probably dropped 1.3 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, likely decreased by a million barrels, the poll showed. The United States is gearing up for its summer driving season. The American Petroleum Institute (API) is due to release inventory data on Tuesday, while figures from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) will come on Wednesday.

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