US To Overtake Russia As Top Oil Producer In 2014 -- IEA

The US is now the #1 producer of oil and natural gas (when both are combined), surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier this year.

Next year, IEA predicts the US will overtake Russia as the top oil producer. Reuters via Rigzone is reporting:

The United States will become the world's largest oil producer next year overtaking Russia, thanks to its shale oil boom which has remade the global energy landscape, the West's energy watchdog said on Friday.

The prediction comes only days after estimates by the U.S. government showed the spectacular growth in production has allowed the world's largest oil consumer to reduce imports so drastically that it has lost its ranking as the world's biggest oil importer to China.

Other data points:

"With output of more than 10 million barrels per day for the last two quarters, its highest in decades, the nation is set to become the largest non-OPEC liquids producer by the second quarter of 2014, overtaking Russia. And that's not even counting biofuels and refinery gains," the IEA added.

The spike in U.S. production will allow total nonOPEC supply to grow by an average of 1.7 million barrels per day in 2014, peaking at 1.9 million in the second quarter, the highest annual growth since the 1970s, the IEA said.