Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The rapid growth of U.S. oil production is transforming global markets and easing supplies just as China and the rest of the developing world move to overtake the developed world for the first time in consumption, the International Energy Agency reported Tuesday.
The U.S. is not the only nation experiencing a renaissance in oil production. Sidelined for two decades by war, sanctions and political instability, Iraq passed a critical milestone last year by producing 3 million barrels a day of crude oil for the first time since 1990, before the Persian Gulf War, reaching 3.4 million barrels a day by December.
By about 2020, the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer and put North America as a whole on track to become a net exporter of oil as soon as 2030, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
"OPEC oil will still very much be needed," despite the cartel's recent troubles, because of the surging demand in Asia and the developing world, said Ms. van der Hoeven.
U.S. pumps up oil production as demand rises in developing world →
"North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. "The good news is that this is helping to ease a market that was relatively tight for several years."
U.S. pumps up oil production as demand rises in developing world →
