This Is Why The U.S May Actually Not Be The No.1 Oil Producer
According to the recently-released BP (NYSE: BP) Statistical Review of World Energy 2014, the U.S. was the world’s largest and most diverse energy producer in 2014. The Statistical Review ranked the U.S.:
#1 in oil production
#1 in natural gas production
#1 in nuclear power
#1 in wind power
#1 in geothermal power
#1 in biofuels
#2 in coal production
#4 in hydropower
#5 in solar power
The U.S. is clearly an energy production superpower, but we are an even greater energy consumer. Thus, despite the large amount of energy production, the U.S. is not energy independent. Our position as the #2 coal producer behind China (not coincidentally) mirrors our #2 position behind China in carbon dioxide emissions. And despite the rapid growth of renewable energy in both countries, carbon dioxide emissions in both countries rose to new record highs in 2014.
Related: This Is Why Californians Pay More For Their Gasoline?
Perhaps the most surprising item from this year’s BP Statistical Review was that the U.S. jumped over Russia and Saudi Arabia to regain the crown it had held decades ago as the world’s top oil producer. The Statistical Review reported that U.S. oil production was 11.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2014 – nearly 1.6 million bpd higher than in 2013 for the largest one-year gain in U.S. history. This compared to 11.5 million bpd of oil production for Saudi Arabia and 10.8 million bpd for Russia:
(Click to enlarge)
However, some have disputed this new ranking and argue that it is merely a function of the way the BP Statistical Review defines oil. “Oil” in the BP Statistical Review is defined as “crude oil, tight oil, oil sands and natural gas liquids”, but excludes biofuels and liquid fuels produced from coal or natural gas. Oil consumption numbers do include all liquid fuels, so as a result reported consumption numbers are always greater than reported production numbers.
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