International News
US Could Become World’s Oil King This Year: Report
The US has not been the global leader, nor ahead of both Russia and Saudi Arabia, since 1975.
WASHINGTON: The United States could become the oil world’s new king in 2018 as it was poised to ramp up crude oil production by 10 per cent to about 11 million barrels per day, according to a report.
The report by research firm Rystad Energy on Wednesday said surging shale oil output should allow the US to dethrone Russia and Saudi Arabia as the planet’s leading crude oil producer, reports CNN.
The US has not been the global leader, nor ahead of both Russia and Saudi Arabia, since 1975.
“The market has completely changed due to the US shale machine,” said Nadia Martin Wiggen, Rystad’s vice president of markets.
The prediction shows how the fracking revolution has turned the US into an energy powerhouse — a transformation that President Donald Trump vowed to accelerate by cutting regulation.
This long-term shift has allowed the US to be less reliant on foreign oil, including from the turbulent Middle East, the report said.
US oil production slipped but did noy completely collapse after Saudi-led OPEC launched a price war in 2015 aimed at reclaiming market share lost to shale and other players, CNN reported.
A massive supply glut caused crude to crash from around $100.
