US energy production hit new record last year, agency says

US is the largest crude oil producer in the world

The Permian Basin, which lies lies beneath Texas and New Mexico, is North America's most prolific shale patch. Reuters

The US produced a record amount of energy in 2024, the Energy Information Administration reported on Monday, with natural gas remaining the largest source of domestic production.

Total US energy production passed 103 quadrillion British thermal units in 2024, a one per cent increase from the previous record set a year earlier, according to the EIA's Monthly Energy Review.

Natural gas, which has been the biggest source of domestic energy production since 2011, accounted for 38 per cent of total energy production last year.

Meanwhile, crude oil accounted for 27 per cent of total energy production last year. Crude oil production was 2 per cent higher than in 2023 at a record 13.2 million barrels per day.

The EIA said nearly all of the production growth came from the Permian region, a major oil and gas-producing region in the south-western US. The agency said production in the region rose by 370,000 bpd last year to 6.3 million bpd.

The US was the world's largest crude oil producer last year, according to EIA data from February.

Saudi Arabia's crude oil production averaged 9 million barrels per day last year, while Russia was the largest crude oil producer among Opec+ members with 9.2 million barrels per day. Iraq (4.4 million bpd), the UAE (2.9 million bpd) and Kuwait (2.5 million bpd) were among the bloc's top five crude oil producers.

US solar and wind production increased by 25 and 18 per cent, respectively, while coal production fell to its lowest annual output since 1964.

The EIA said it expects oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico to remain stable through next year at 1.9 millions barrels per day.