The US is set to take Russia’s place as the largest oil producer outside of OPEC by mid-2014, after oil production reached 10 million barrels per day for the first time in decades in the second quarter this year. By next year the International Energy Agency expects production to exceed 11 million barrels per day, while Russia’s output is expected to be flat at 10.9 million.
That would bring the US closer to being at the top…last year the agency forecast that the US would overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer before 2020. It also forecast that by 2030 North America would be an energy independent net exporter of oil.