US Oil Production Should Soon Outpace Imports For First Time In 18 Years

U.S. crude oil production is on pace to hit 7.3 million barrels a day by the end of this year, according to the EIA.

That would put it above total imports, which will be hovering around 7 million barrels a day by December.

The last time production outpaced imports was 1995, according to the EIA. And by 2014, production-imports gap could rise to as much as 2 billion barrels.

Here's the chart:

The reason, of course, is the shale boom.

The cross-over could happen even sooner if production ramps up, the EIA says.