Report examines nation’s global petroleum, natural gas lead

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) maintains domestic petroleum and natural gas production established a new production record last year, increasing by 16 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

The EIA said America surpassed Russia in 2011 to become the world’s largest producer of natural gas and topped Saudi Arabia in 2018 to become the world’s largest producer of petroleum. Last year’s rise was one of the largest absolute petroleum and natural gas production increases from a single country in history.

The EIA noted petroleum production is composed of several types of liquid fuels, including crude oil and lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), and bitumen while determining America produced 28.7 quadrillion British thermal units of petroleum in 2018, which was composed of 80 percent crude oil and condensate and 20 percent NGPLs.

Domestic crude oil production increased by 17 percent in 2018, which officials said established a new record of nearly 11.0 million barrels per day (b/d) while acknowledging production in the Permian region of western Texas and eastern New Mexico contributed to most of the growth in U.S. crude oil production.

The United States also produced 4.3 million b/d of NGPLs in 2018, equivalent to 5.8 quadrillion Btu. Domestic NGPL production has more than doubled since 2008 when the market for NGPLs began to expand.