The list of top oil producers changes with time depending on various factors such as internal policies, new reserves being discovered, and advancements in technology.
Here are the top 10 oil-producing countries in the world.
1. United States
Hydraulic fracturing helped the United States to become the biggest oil producer in the world. Most of the produced oil is coming from shale formations.
The top oil fields are Permian, Eagle Ford, and Bakken.
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2. Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a member of OPEC and has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. It is also the largest oil producer in the Middle East.
Most of the oil is coming from conventional oilfields which makes it cheap to produce and allows Saudi Arabia to make money even in an extremely low oil price environment.
Saudi Aramco is the biggest oil company in Saudi Arabia.
3. Russia
Russia is another country with extremely large oil reserves and is also the biggest oil supplier to Europe. It also supplies oil to Asian markets.
Most of the oil in Russia is produced from the oil fields in Siberia.
Russia is also the world’s biggest natural gas exporter.
Read next: What is LNG and How It Is Used?
4. Canada
Most of the oil in Canada is produced from Western Sedimentary Basin.
A large amount of it comes from oil sands and shale fields.
Most of the Canadian oil is exported to the United States.
5. China
Most of the oil in China is produced from offshore fields.
Because of extremely high consumption, oil production can’t meet the demand in China, and additional oil is imported from other countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.
6. Iraq
Iraq has large oil reserves but production is often affected by sanctions, instability in the region, and challenges in getting investments.
Iraq is a member of OPEC.
7. United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Most of the produced oil is exported by tankers to Asia with Japan being the main importer.
United Arab Emirates is a member of OPEC and most of the oil is produced by the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
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8. Brazil
Brazil is the biggest oil producer in South America.
Most of its oil is produced offshore from heavy oil formations.
State-owned Petrobras is the biggest oil company in Brazil.
9. Iran
Iran has some of the biggest oil reserves in the world but production is negatively affected by sanctions and the lack of investments required to improve infrastructure.
Iran is a member of OPEC and most of the oil is produced by the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.
10. Kuwait
Kuwait is another OPEC member and one of the biggest oil producers in the Middle East.
Kuwait is highly dependent on oil production and almost half of its GDP comes from oil sales.
Most of the oil is produced by the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
Read next: Oil and Gas Industry Overview: Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream
References:
https://www.ig.com/en/trading-strategies/world-s-biggest-oil-producers-200722
https://www.uae-embassy.org/about-uae/energy/uae-and-global-oil-supply