US surpasses Saudi Arabia as world's biggest oil and gas producer

The US overtook Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer in 2014, with 1.6m barrels per day against 1.5m, BP's Statistical Review of World Energy revealed on Wednesday.

The increase allowed the US to reduce its oil imports to 1% of the country's GDP, down from 5% in 2007.

Russia kept the third place, with 10.8m a day.

“We are truly witnessing a changing of the guard of global energy suppliers,” BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale said in a presentation.

The implications of the shale revolution for the US are profound

“The implications of the shale revolution for the US are profound,” he added.

As for oil consumption in developed nations, levels dropped 1.2% in 2014, while natural-gas consumption grew 0.4%.

The review said that the US has become the world's largest producers of hydrocarbons combined, ahead of Russia.

It also showed that China's energy demand was growing at its slowest pace since the late nineties.

“Growth in some of China’s most energy-intensive sectors, such as steel, iron and cement -- which had thrived during China’s rapid industrialization -- virtually collapsed in 2014,” said Dale, a former Bank of England chief economist who joined BP last year.

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