US remains top natural gas, petroleum producer

The US produced more petroleum liquids and natural gas than any other nation last year. Production first surpassed Russia in 2012 and the US has been the highest natural gas […]

The US produced more petroleum liquids and natural gas than any other nation last year.

Production first surpassed Russia in 2012 and the US has been the highest natural gas producing nation since 2011 and the world’s top producer of petroleum since 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

US petroleum supply increased by one million barrels a day to 15 million barrels a day last year while natural gas production rose by 3.7 billion cubic feet per day to 74.2 billion cubic feet per day.

The EIA states: “Increases in US petroleum and natural gas production over the past several years are directly attributed to production from tight oil and shale gas formations.”

Although Russian petroleum production continued to increase, natural gas production declined “because of poor economic conditions and a mild winter”, which resulted in lower domestic demand.

It adds: “Russia’s total combined production of petroleum and natural gas increased by just 0.1 quadrillion Btu in 2015.

“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.”

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