Industry experts believe the U.S. may be the world’s top crude oil producer this year, a possible boon for Oklahoma’s energy-reliant economy.
A forecast from the International Energy Agency expects the U.S. will produce more than 10 million barrels a day later this year. Oil and Gas Journal economist Conglin Xu said that will see the U.S. overtake Saudi Arabia and possibly Russia.
"Russia is currently the top producer of the world. This, of course, assumes that OPEC and non-OPEC constraints remain in place and oil prices keeping a relatively high level," Xu said.
That production growth will be propped up by a growing export market.
"Exports increased 17 percent last year. That’s a huge jump, and we expect U.S. exports, including both crude exports and product exports, will continue to grow double digits this year," Xu said.
Industry experts also forecast a steady increase in crude oil prices deep into 2018. They should peak sometime around late summer, but that will probably be followed by a quick slide back to near current prices.
"Currently, it’s still hard to explain why it will behave like this, but based on previous years’ accuracy, we believe it’s very likely that oil prices could behave in this way," Xu said.
Based on January trading, analysts are projecting oil prices between $40 and $85 a barrel this December. The current price is $65.
