This week the Energy Information Administration announced that domestic production of crude oil had surged to the point that the U.S. is now producing 10 percent of the world’s crude. The figure applied to the fourth quarter of 2013, when domestic production totaled 7.84 million barrels per day.

The continued growth in production is attributable primarily to technologically advanced drilling and completion processes that facilitate production of oil from tight formations in fields such as the Eagle Ford and the Bakken Shale. Tight oil refers to oil found within reservoirs with very low permeability, including but not limited to shale. Presently, the U.S. and Canada are the only major producers of tight oil in the world.

U.S. tight oil production averaged 3.22 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d) in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. This level was enough to push overall crude oil production in the United States to an average of 7.84 MMbbl/d, more than 10% of total world production, up from 9% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

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