Proven Reserves
United States proven oil reserves were 23 billion barrels (3.7×109 m3) in 2010 according to the Energy Information Administration. This represents a decline of 41%, or 16 billion barrels (2.5×109 m3) from 39 billion barrels (6.2×109 m3) in 1970. U.S. crude production peaked in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels per day (1.53×106 m3/d), after the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field was found in Alaska. It has declined 47% to 5.1 million barrels per day (810×103 m3/d) by 2006. United States crude oil production has been declining since reaching a smaller secondary production peak in 1988 (caused by Alaskan production). Total production of crude oil from 1970 through 2006 was 102 billion barrels (16.2×109 m3), or roughly five and a half times the decline in proved reserves.
Since the oil price peaked about US$147.50 in summer 2008 many projects have been brought online. It takes a few years to develop an oil field. The US consumption of petroleum products reached a peak in 2005; by 2012, consumption had declined 11% from the peak. In 2012 the oil production of the USA increased by 800,000 barrels, the highest ever recorded increase in one year since oil drilling began 1859. Oil-bearing shales in North Dakota and Montana are producing increasing amounts of oil. During 2008-2009 the USA became a net exporter of refined oil products; before the US bought gasoline, diesel and kerosene in Europe, and smaller amounts from other countries. As of April 2013, US crude production was at a more than 20-year high, since the shale gas and tight oil boom; production was near 7.2 million barrels per day. Experts think that the USA could pass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer.
The reserves-to-production ratio (R/P) equaled 11.26 years in 2007. The ratio was 11.08 years in 1970. It hit a trough of 8.49 years in 1986 as oil pumped through the Alaska pipeline began to peak.
Net imports of oil and products account for nearly half of the US trade deficit. Because of declining production and increasing demand, net US imports of oil and petroleum products increased from 3.16 million barrels per day (502×103 m3/d) in 1970 to 12.04 million barrels per day (1.914×106 m3/d) in 2007, before declining. Its largest net suppliers of petroleum products in 2007 were Canada and Mexico, which supplied 2.2 and 1.3 Mbbl/d (350×103 and 210×103 m3/d), respectively. As of 2011, the US consumed 18.8 million barrels of petroleum products per day, and imported a net 8.4 million barrels per day; the EIA reported the United States "Dependence on Net Petroleum Imports" in 2011 as 45%.
Read more about this topic: Oil Reserves In The United States
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—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)
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—Sally Placksin (20th century)