The US more than doubled its crude output and passed Saudi Arabia in 2018
US crude production averaged 5,485 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) in 2010 and 13,573 kb/d in 2025, a rise of 147%. Shale drilling in Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota drove the gain. In 2018 the US overtook Saudi Arabia, which averaged 9,482 kb/d in 2025.
Canada, the third line on the chart, also grew steadily on oil sands output. Russia would sit near the top of this chart, but it stopped reporting to JODI after March 2023, so it is left out rather than shown as a false drop.
Crude oil production, annual average (kb/d)
United States, Saudi Arabia and Canada, 2010–2025
Source: JODI Oil World Database, crude oil, production flow.
One in three barrels from the 51 steady reporters now comes from the US
51 countries reported crude production in every month from 2010 to 2025. Together they averaged 40,941 kb/d in 2025. The US share of that total rose from 15.6% in 2010 to 33.2% in 2025.
The other 50 countries produced slightly less in 2025 than in 2010: 27,368 kb/d vs. 29,576 kb/d (-7.5%). All of the group's growth came from the US. This is not a world total: Russia, Iraq, Iran, the UAE and Brazil are missing because their JODI records have gaps.
Crude oil production of the 51 countries reporting every month (kb/d)
United States vs. the other 50, annual average
Source: JODI. Countries with a production value for all 192 months, January 2010 to December 2025.
The US went from almost no crude exports to the second-largest exporter among JODI reporters
The US exported just 42 kb/d of crude in 2010, when a 1975 law still banned most crude exports. Congress lifted the ban in December 2015, the year exports averaged 458 kb/d. By 2025 they reached 3,931 kb/d.
Among countries that reported exports in all twelve months of 2025, only Saudi Arabia shipped more (6,434 kb/d), putting the US at number 2.
US crude oil exports, annual average (kb/d)
2010–2025
Source: JODI, crude oil, total exports.
China overtook the US as the biggest crude importer in 2017
China's crude imports grew from 4,805 kb/d in 2010 to 11,593 kb/d in 2025, up 141%. Over the same years, US imports fell from 9,184 kb/d to 6,167 kb/d as home production replaced foreign barrels.
The lines cross in 2017. China's refineries processed 15,839 kb/d of crude in 2025, 97% of the US figure (16,365 kb/d), and most of that crude is imported.
Crude oil imports, annual average (kb/d)
China vs. United States, 2010–2025
Source: JODI, crude oil, total imports.
In April 2020 jet fuel and kerosene demand fell by two thirds
In the 40 countries that reported demand for every refined product in every month, total product demand in April 2020 was -21.9% below April 2019. The drop depended on what the fuel is used for. Kerosene and jet fuel fell -66.5% as flights stopped. Gasoline fell -35.1% as people stayed home.
Diesel, which moves freight, fell a smaller -19.1%. LPG and naphtha, used for cooking and to make plastics, barely changed.
Change in demand, April 2020 vs. April 2019 (%)
40 countries with complete demand records
Source: JODI, refined products, total demand. Same month a year earlier removes seasonal effects.
Air travel took five years to return: jet fuel demand first matched 2019 in June 2025
Comparing each month to the same month of 2019 shows how slow the recovery was. Across 2021, kerosene and jet fuel demand was still -32.4% below 2019. The gap narrowed each year, but the first month at or above its 2019 level was June 2025.
Road fuels bounced back much faster. In 2022, average gasoline demand was only -2.3% below 2019, and diesel was +2.8% above it. Jet fuel lagged because long-haul and international travel reopened last.
Kerosene & jet fuel demand vs. the same month of 2019 (%)
Monthly, January 2020 to December 2025, 40 countries
Source: JODI, kerosene (which includes jet kerosene), total demand.
Saudi Arabia is the swing producer: it cut output 15.4% from 2022 to 2024
Saudi output moves with OPEC+ policy more than with geology. In April 2020, during a price war with Russia, it pumped a record 12,007 kb/d, then cut hard when the OPEC+ pandemic deal took effect in May.
After averaging 10,588 kb/d in 2022, it made voluntary cuts in 2023 that brought the 2024 average down to 8,955 kb/d, a 15.4% drop, to support prices while US output kept climbing.
Saudi Arabia crude oil production, monthly (kb/d)
January 2010 to December 2025
Source: JODI, crude oil, production flow.
Venezuela lost 80% of its output by 2020
Venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves, yet its production fell from 2,776 kb/d in 2010 to 558 kb/d in 2020. The state oil company ran short of money and maintenance, and US sanctions from 2019 cut off its main buyer and its supply of diluents.
Output has partly recovered since, to 1,081 kb/d in 2025, still less than half the 2010 level.
Venezuela crude oil production, annual average (kb/d)
2010–2025
Source: JODI, crude oil, production flow.
The North Sea split: Britain's output halved while Norway's rebounded 32%
UK crude production fell from 1,202 kb/d in 2010 to 599 kb/d in 2025 (-50%), as old fields ran down and few new ones were approved.
Norway bottomed out at 1,431 kb/d in 2019. The giant Johan Sverdrup field started that October, and by 2025 Norway was back to 1,890 kb/d, 32% above its low.
Crude oil production, annual average (kb/d)
Norway vs. United Kingdom, 2010–2025
Source: JODI, crude oil, production flow.
Why I built this
Following the barrels
Oil shows up everywhere in finance: in inflation numbers, in what airlines and truckers pay to operate, and in the share prices of some of the biggest companies in the market. I kept reading headlines about the shale boom, OPEC cuts and the 2020 crash, and I wanted to see whether those stories actually show up in the raw numbers governments report, country by country and month by month.
They do, and in a few places the data told a sharper story than the headlines. What surprised me most was how long jet fuel took to come back, and how completely the US changed from a buyer of crude into one of the biggest sellers. The dashboard is there so you can go looking for your own stories in the same data.
— Aidan Dingler
Oil majors and crude prices, live
A live market view for context. Prices come from TradingView and are not part of the JODI data or any number above.
About the data
- Source
- The JODI Oil World Database, downloaded as yearly CSV files for 2010–2026: the "primary" files cover crude oil and NGL, and the "secondary" files cover refined products. JODI is run by APEC, Eurostat, GECF, IEA, IEF, OLADE, OPEC and the UN, and collects monthly figures reported by national governments.
- What one row is
-
One country, one month and one product, for example "United States, 2024-06, Crude oil". The cleaned file
(
data/oil_panel.csv) has 162,141 rows and 14 columns covering 112 countries and 199 months. Categorical columns: country, region, OPEC group, product and product group. Numeric columns: production, imports, exports, demand and refinery intake, all in thousand barrels per day (kb/d), plus closing stocks in thousand barrels. - Rows dropped and why
-
- The raw files have one row per country, month, product, flow and unit (15,163,200 rows). Only the flows above were kept, in kb/d (flows) and thousand barrels (stocks). The other units repeat the same values converted, and
CONVBBLholds a conversion factor, not data. - Rows marked
-,..orx(not available, not applicable) are dropped. A country-month-product row exists only if at least one number was reported. - JODI's total rows (
TOTCRUDE,TOTPRODS) and the jet fuel row (JETKERO, which is already inside kerosene) are dropped so that products can be added up without double counting. - The findings use full years, 2010–2025. The 2026 months stay in the data file and the dashboard, but they are partial and fewer countries have reported them.
- The raw files have one row per country, month, product, flow and unit (15,163,200 rows). Only the flows above were kept, in kb/d (flows) and thousand barrels (stocks). The other units repeat the same values converted, and
- How every figure is computed
-
- Annual average (kb/d): the mean of a country's 12 monthly values for that year. Every country-level series in the findings has a value in all 192 months, which
scripts/analyze.pychecks. - Percent change: (new ÷ old − 1) × 100.
- US share: US annual average ÷ the sum of annual averages for the 51 countries with crude production reported in all 192 months.
- April 2020 change and the jet fuel recovery: demand summed over the 40 countries that reported demand for all seven refined products in all 192 months, compared with the same month of 2019.
- Export rank: countries ranked by 2025 average crude exports, among those that reported all 12 months of 2025.
- Production means well output for crude and NGL, and refinery output for refined products. Refined products are made from crude, so the two groups are never added together.
- Annual average (kb/d): the mean of a country's 12 monthly values for that year. Every country-level series in the findings has a value in all 192 months, which
- Gaps to keep in mind
- JODI's public files have no crude production data for Russia after March 2023, Iraq after March 2024, the UAE and Qatar after 2018, Brazil after 2022 or Angola after November 2023, and Iran's record is patchy. These countries are left out of totals instead of being counted as zero. Regions and OPEC groups (OPEC, OPEC+ partner, non-OPEC) use 2025 membership for every year. Angola, which left OPEC in 2024, is listed as non-OPEC.
- Reproduce it
-
scripts/download_jodi.py→scripts/build_panel.py→scripts/analyze.py. The page reads its numbers fromdata/report.json, which the last script writes. The globe's headlines come from Google News via a scheduled GitHub Action (scripts/fetch_news.py) and are not used in any figure.