US Becomes World’s Largest Oil Exporter

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US Becomes World’s Largest Oil Exporter

Overtaking both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Salem News Channel: The shift comes after years of booming US shale production along with disruptions to Russian and Saudi exports tied to war, sanctions, and attacks on energy infrastructure. US crude and fuel exports reached about 10.5 million barrels per day in May, marking the third straight month America has led the world in oil exports (Salem News Channel).

Reuters: America’s ascendancy to the top spot marks a stunning reversal for a country that was dependent on Middle Eastern oil for decades and ‌suffered from an oil embargo imposed by some OPEC members in 1973 to retaliate against U.S. support for Israel. U.S. fortunes began to change after 2010, when oil and gas output from its shale formations soared, first making it the world’s top gas and then the world’s top oil producer…. U.S. exports of crude and fuel climbed to about 10.5 million barrels per day in May on the back of high output and the release of strategic reserves, data from ship tracking services Vortexa showed, making the U.S. the top global exporter for the third month in a row. Russian exports stood at 7 million bpd in May, according to Reuters’ calculations, while Saudi Arabia’s exports stood at 5.9 million bpd, according to Vortexa. In ⁠comparison, Saudi Arabia exported about 8.1 million bpd in 2025, while the United States shipped out 6.6 million bpd, and Russian exports stood at about 5.8 million bpd, according to Vortexa data (Reuters).

Understanding America’s Energy Dominance

There’s no question: Donald Trump—over the course of the past decade—has played an enormous part. Indeed, in his first 100 hours this term he announced a plan to ‘unleash American energy’ (White House).

But: None of this unleashing could not have happened without American innovation via the shale revolution. Stephen Moore looks at a new study: Thanks to the shale oil revolution, the United States tripled its oil output in less than 15 years, even as the Malthusian doomsayers (and then President Obama) were assuring us that we would soon be drilling the last barrel of oil on American soil. Shale gas also helped break the back of the OPEC cartel, which, for nearly half a century, had a knife at the neck of the U.S. economy and could, by turning off the spigots, plunge the U.S. economy into a recession. Now a study shows that fracking shale oil and gas have made America rich. The University of California, Berkeley’s Energy Institute at Haas — hardly a right-wing source — has released blockbuster findings on the shale gas revolution: “It may seem like a distant memory now, but as of the mid-2000s, U.S. natural gas production had been flat for a decade, and the U.S. was importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), with plans to import much more. Then shale gas happened. Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling caused U.S. natural gas production to increase significantly, and the U.S. went from being a net importer of natural gas to being the world’s largest exporter. We calculate that U.S. natural gas consumers have saved $3.1-$4.3 trillion between 2007 and 2025, equivalent to $164-$227 billion annually” (Washington Times).