US oil output notches fresh record in August

U.S. oil producers pumped record high levels of crude last week, according to government data released Wednesday, extending the upswing in output that has made the United States the biggest oil and gas producer in history.

The new record contrasts with claims made by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has sought to cast the Biden administration's policies as calamitous for the oil and gas industry. Trump has claimed that President Joe Biden has undermined the energy achievements made during his term in office.

"We are no longer energy independent or energy dominant as we were just a few short years ago. We are a nation that is begging Venezuela and others for oil," the former president told a rally in Florida last month.

Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed oil companies pumped an average of 13.4 million barrels a day from U.S. oil fields during the week ended Aug. 2, surpassing the previous record of 13.3 million the industry has hit several times this year . U.S. oil production began a long climb upward starting in 2008, setting an annual record peak in 2023 that is likely to be broken this year.

Analysts warned that the EIA could revise the number when it releases its monthly data, which generally lags its weekly bulletins by several months. But for now, the number indicates that oil companies have gotten more efficient at pumping oil even as the number of drilling rigs in operation has fallen compared with last year, according to data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes .

“Seems to be an all-time weekly record and indicative of improving the efficiency of using drilling rigs in the oil patch,” Andrew Lipow, head of Houston-based consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, said of the latest EIA production number.

The United States and other countries are essentially filling in for the oil supply that OPEC+, the production cartel and its larger grouping that includes Russia, have cut in recent years, said Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil Associates.

“The U.S. output surprises to the upside,” Varga said in an email. “Four years ago the consensus was that it will go nowhere near the 13 million barrel mark. What we have been seeing is that the US, amongst other non-OPEC+ producers, has happily filled in the gap left on the supply side of the equation by OPEC+.”

Trump told last week's National Association of Black Journalists question-and-answer session in Chicago that the Biden administration — including Vice President Kamala Harris — “want to get rid of gasoline in cars.”

“They want to get rid of oil,” Trump said. “Environmentally what they are doing is killing our country.”

In a statement about the new production levels, a Trump campaign spokesperson said: "Isn't it funny how the Harris-Biden Administration starts plagiarizing President Trump's energy plans and producing more oil to bring down gas prices just in time for the election? Americans aren't stupid and they won't forget the high prices they have paid over the past four years."

Neither the White House nor the Harris campaign commented on the new data.

Average U.S. gasoline prices hovered near $3.45 per gallon, about $1 higher than the pre-pandemic price under Trump, but well below the levels above $5 per gallon seen after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Gasoline prices are largely determined by crude oil costs, which have been elevated despite the U.S. record output as other producers reduced their output.

Harris has not yet outlined an energy policy of her own. Her campaign said last month that she would not ban fracking, a shift from her stance in 2019 when she was running for the Democratic nomination. Advances in fracking technology have helped propel the U.S. to the leading spot in global output of oil and natural gas.

Republicans and some in the oil industry have criticized the Biden administration for raising royalty fees for oil production on federal land and limiting how much of that land is available for drilling.

A federal lease sale held by the Interior Department on Tuesday for acreage in North Dakota and Montana showed oil industry demand was still strong . Companies bid a total of $24 million dollars for 5,569 acres of federal land in the two states, home to the oil-rich Bakken shale oil field.

That sale was conducted despite protests from environmental group Friends of the Earth, which has called on Harris to "rein in" the industry if elected president, said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth Action.

"Big Oil is directly responsible for the climate catastrophe we're experiencing this summer, from devastating wildfires to record temperatures," Ghio said in an email. "We're optimistic that Harris' strong record of holding Big Oil accountable can help finally rein in this destructive industry and protect people, wildlife and our climate from pollution."