In March 2018, the United States outpaced Russia in terms of oil production. This means that the USA is now the biggest producer of crude oil in the world.
In March, American oil companies were producing 10,425 million barrels a day on average while their Russian peers produced only 10,298 million barrels a day on average. Russia is now the second-biggest producer of crude oil in the world while Saudi Arabia is the third-biggest one with 9,907 million barrels produced daily.
The first time the USA came close to Russia in terms of oil production was in February 2018 - 10,298 million b/d against 10,264 million b/d respectively. Saudi Arabia came in third with 9,935 million b/d. According to JODI, while Russia’s daily oil production showed no change and Saudi Arabia’s production shrank by 0,28%, the USA actually continued boosting its oil production, which eventually made America number one.
The U.S. oil export increased by 3.7% up to 1.664 million barrels a day in March. At the same time, Saudi Arabi saw its oil export decline by 1,8% down to 7,122 million barrels a day. There was no clear info on the Russian export. For now, it’s assumed that the export didn’t change much over the reporting period and stayed above 5 million barrels a day.
At the same time, JODI reported American refineries boosted their production by 4,9% up to 16,713 million barrels a day while their Russian and Saudi peers shrank their production a little – under 0,5 percent.
