The U.S.'s average daily oil production is on track to experience its biggest one-year jump in the nation's history.
The U.S.'s average daily oil production is on track to surge by 1 million barrels per day this year, the biggest one-year jump in the nation's history, according to federal data reviewed by Fuelfix.com. The website is anchored by business reporters at the Houston Chronicle and other Hearst newspapers.
Photo courtesy Shell
The site reports that the country has pumped an average of 7.5 million barrels of crude per day in 2013, up from 6.5 million barrels per day in 2012. That breaks last year's record, when oil production jumped by 837,000 barrels per day between 2011 and 2012.
The Gulf of Mexico also is seeing a boost, with oil production expected to grow to 1.4 million barrels per day in 2014, up by 100,000 barrels.
Fuelfix says the data is evidence of the "astonishingly rapid turnaround in the nation's energy story," but while the U.S. oil boom has sparked conversation of energy independence, it says Americans consume about 18 million barrels of liquid fuels per day, far more than is produced domestically. Read the story here.
In mid-December, however, the site noted that the oil boom's end is in sight, saying U.S. oil production is on track to reach a near historic high by 2016, before leveling off and eventually beginning to taper in 2020.
Also, read Fuelfix.com's top energy stories of the year here.