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- Oil output in the US jumped 20% from 2017 levels in September.
- The US is expected to become a net energy exporter within the next five years.
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After becoming the world's largest oil producer this year, US influence in the energy market has continued to grow.
US production rose to a record high of 11.475 million barrels per day in September, the Energy Information Administration said Friday. That's about 20% higher than output over the same period in 2017 and the second largest year-over-year gain.
Technology like hydraulic fracking has helped put the US on its way to becoming a net energy exporter for the first time since the 1950's. Within the next five years, it is expected to ship more petroleum than it imports as rising output meets slowing domestic demand.
Record output levels, however, come at an uncertain time in the global energy market. Prices of West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, have fallen by more than a quarter to near $50 a barrel over the past three months, the lowest since October 2017.
OPEC and other major producers are considering coordinated output restrictions to stem a further drop in prices. Additionally, analysts at JPMorgan expect US production growth to slow over the next two years.
"This should help with a limited recovery in oil prices from current level," they said.
"However, this recovery is unlikely to last as structurally demand should slow in 2019-20 based on our economists' projection for GDP and low cost non-OPEC supply growth should put a cap on oil prices in the absence of any large scale geopolitical disruption."
JPMorgan
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