/AFP
The United States expanded its lead as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas last year as output from fracking fields surged, the US Department of Energy reported Tuesday.
While hydrocarbon production in Russia and Saudi Arabia remained relatively flat, US output, by the British thermal unit (Btu) measure of energy content, gained about 10 percent to nearly 55 quadrillion Btu last year.
That increase represented a 1.6 million barrel a day rise in crude production and a 13.9 billion cubic feet a day rise in natural gas production. US output now stands at about double that of Saudi Arabia.
US production is evenly split between crude oil and natural gas, according to the EIA. In Russia output is also balanced between oil and gas, while Saudi Arabia mainly produces crude oil.
The US production gains came despite a 50 percent fall in oil prices during the second half of the year, the EIA noted.
