North Dakota, Alaska, California -- Race For #2 -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Back on October 11, 2011, this is where things stood:

At North Dakota's blazing current pace of monthly increases in oil production, the state will be producing more than 560,000 barrels of oil per day by January 2012 and will then pass #3 California (540,000 barrels per day) and #2 Alaska (550,000 barrels per day) to become America's second-largest oil producer. 

We are at 530,000 now, December, 2011.