US Hits Record-High Oil Production

The United States’ LNG exports are up about 25 percent from a year ago.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The United States is witnessing a surge in energy production, with crude oil output at an all-time high, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a Nov. 3 interview with Fox News.

“[Middle Eastern countries are] so thrilled to have the United States back in the game of energy abundance and energy growth as opposed to following some European model of trying to shut down all the traditional forms of energy,“ Burgum said. ”And under President [Donald] Trump, he said, ‘Drill, baby, drill.’ In July, the United States set a record for oil production, 13.6 million barrels a day. There'll be new records set going forward.”

According to a December 2024 analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States was the top crude oil producer of 2023 and the previous five years, averaging 12.9 million barrels per day that year.

The United States produced 13.79 million barrels of crude oil per day in August, a new high, according to the latest EIA data. This was up from 11.31 million in August 2021, the first year of the Biden administration.

“Under President Biden, we had a moratorium on LNG export facilities,” Burgum said, adding that exports were up 25 percent year over year.

In 2024, the United States exported 11.9 billion cubic feet per day of LNG globally and remained the largest LNG exporter in the world, the EIA said in a March 27 analysis. Australia was the second-largest exporter, followed by Qatar.

According to EIA data, the United States exported 451.13 billion cubic feet of LNG in August 2025, which is 24 percent higher than in the same month last year.

Burgum said the higher LNG exports were also a reflection of investments of tens of billions of dollars from entrepreneurs, innovators, and the private sector in LNG export facilities.

U.S. LNG exports were helping European nations fulfill their plan to decouple from Russia, the interior secretary said.

“Energy diplomacy is working. President Trump knows how to use it to end wars and knows how to use it to bring prosperity at home as well as peace abroad,” he said.

Burgum also responded to climate activists who he said have been promoting energy transition away from traditional sources over the past 10 years.

What the world actually needs now is “energy addition,” which is what Trump’s energy dominance agenda is all about, he said.

The Trump administration wants to produce enough energy to be able to sell it to allies so they don’t have to buy from U.S. adversaries such as Russia and Iran, according to Burgum. It also wants to ensure that the country has enough energy to win the artificial intelligence arms race with China, he added.

In a Sept. 3 report, the EIA forecast that North American LNG exports would surge significantly over the coming years on the back of higher U.S. output.

“[North American LNG] export capacity is on track to more than double between 2024 and 2028, from 11.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2023 to 24.4 Bcf/d in 2028,” the report said.

North American LNG export capacity growth is predicted to be the highest for the United States, at 9.7 Bcf/d, followed by Canada, at 2.5 Bcf/d, and Mexico, at 0.8 Bcf/d.

The prediction assumes that “projects currently under construction begin operations as planned,” the EIA said, highlighting that there were 10 new projects under construction across the three nations.

2025–2026 Output, Building SPR

In an Oct. 7 short-term energy outlook report, the EIA said it expects the United States to add 5 Bcf/d of LNG export capacity in 2025 and 2026 as the Plaquemines LNG and Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 projects come online.

As for crude oil production, the output in July was higher than previously estimated, the agency said.

The EIA forecasts oil production to average 13.5 million b/d in 2025 and 2026. The EIA said it was raising expectations for crude oil production in the Gulf of America region because “some projects are ramping up production faster” than expected.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is in the process of rebuilding the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), according to an Oct. 21 statement from the department.

“Currently, the SPR holds just over 400 million barrels of its 700 million barrel capacity,” it said.

“The SPR was severely weakened by the previous administration’s reckless 180-million-barrel drawdown in 2022, which incurred nearly $280 million in costs, delayed critical infrastructure maintenance, and put unprecedented wear and tear on storage and injection facilities.”

The department announced a new solicitation to buy 1 million barrels of crude oil for delivery at the SPR in the Bryan Mound site.