Ashby Daniels

The world's largest oil producer is the US

If I asked you to name the world's largest oil producer, I'll bet you'd name a Middle Eastern country. And you'd be wrong.

The United States passed Saudi Arabia and Russia for the top spot in 2018 and hasn't looked back. As the chart below shows, the lead keeps growing. Pretty fascinating.

Line chart of oil production by country in terawatt-hours through 2025. US production falls from about 4,900 TWh around 1990 to about 3,500 TWh in the late 2000s, then rises sharply after 2010 to about 10,300 TWh, well above Saudi Arabia and Russia at roughly 6,000 TWh each. Canada, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Norway trail at 1,000 to 3,500 TWh.
Oil production by country, in terawatt-hours per year, through 2025. Our World in Data, using the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy (2026).