​U.S. to keep top crude oil producer through 2019: EIA

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday expected U.S. crude oil production will continue to exceed Russian and Saudi Arabian crude oil production through 2019, maintaining the largest producer in the world.

EIA issued its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday, forecasting U.S. crude oil production averaged 10.9 million barrels per day in August, up by 120,000 barrels per day from June. U.S. crude oil production will average 10.7 million barrels per day in 2018, up from 9.4 million barrels per day in 2017, and will average 11.5 million barrels per day in 2019, according to the outlook.

Although EIA did not publish crude oil production forecasts for Russia and Saudi Arabia in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA expected that U.S. crude oil production would still surpass that of Russia and Saudi Arabia for the remaining months of 2018 and through 2019.

U.S. crude oil production, particularly from light sweet crude oil grades, has rapidly increased since 2011. In February, U.S. crude oil production exceeded Saudi Arabian for the first time in more than two decades. In June and August, the United States surpassed Russia in crude oil production for the first time since February 1999.

According to EIA, the oil price decline in mid-2014 resulted in U.S. producers reducing their costs and temporarily scaling back crude oil production. However, after crude oil prices increased in early 2016, investment and production began increasing later that year.