What state is the largest producer of crude oil?
Crude oil production is defined as the quantities of oil extracted from the ground after the removal of inert matter or impurities. Crude oil is a mineral oil consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons of natural origin, yellow to black in color, and of variable density and viscosity. Once extracted, crude oil undergoes distillation to break down the liquid into various products depending on weight.
As of 2018, the United States is the world’s largest crude oil producer. The US currently produces approximately 12,108,000 barrels per day. Russia and Saudi Arabia follow the United States in crude oil production, producing 10,709,000 and 9,580,000 barrels per day respectively.
There are thousands of products derived from crude oil, all of which are very beneficial to humans and have improved their quality of life around the world. The largest share of crude oil is used for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and heating oil. Other products include heavier ones used to make asphalt or lubricating oils for petroleum jelly and detergents.
Based on their total crude oil production in numbers of barrels, in 2018, the top ten crude oil-producing states in the US are:
- Texas (1,609,075)
- North Dakota (461,531)
- New Mexico (248,958)
- Oklahoma (200,685)
- Colorado (177,817)
- Alaska (174,800)
- California (169,166)
- Wyoming (87,955)
- Louisiana (48,841)
- Utah (37,063)
Texas is the largest producer of crude oil in the United States. In 2018, Texas produced 1,609,075 barrels of oil, which is more than the other nine states combined. Texas is pushing to become the world’s third-largest oil producer, soon passing Iraq and Iran.
The United States’ smallest oil producer is Virginia, which produced about five barrels of oil in 2018.
Oil production in the United States, especially in Texas, is expected to continue to rise, causing crude oil imports to fall. In 2018, imports to the Gulf Coast averaged approximately 1.8 million barrels per day, a 70% decline in imports since 2007.
Below is a table of each state’s crude oil production in number of barrels.