The USA is now the world’s largest oil and natural gas liquids producer.

US crude oil and natural gas liquids production surpassed all other countries, with daily output exceeding 11 million barrels during the first five months of this year.

Texas and North Dakota lead the way

The IEA has reported US production of 8.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April 2014, the highest monthly production volume in 27 years. Texas and North Dakota accounted for nearly half of this total.

Texas hit over 3.0 million bpd for the first time since the late 1970s, more than doubling production in the past three years. North Dakota production reached 1.0 million bpd for the first time in the state’s history, nearly tripling production over the last three years.

Since 2010, the combined output from North Dakota and Texas increased from 26% to 48% of total USA production. In contrast, the Gulf of Mexico’s share declined from 27% to 17%.

According to the IEA, gains in Texas crude oil production came primarily from unconventional tight oil and shale reservoirs in the Eagle Ford Shale in the Western Gulf Basin in West Texas. North Dakota’s increased production came primarily from the Bakken shale formation in the Williston Basin.

Since April 2011, the Eagle Ford has seen the largest average monthly production increase, exceeding 32 000 bpd, more than twice the 14 000 bpd increase in the Permian. Production from the Bakken increased 19 000 bpd on average each month over the same period.