The US is the world’s biggest oil producer — so why do we still need to import crude and ask countries like Saudi Arabia for help?

Gas prices have started to retreat, bringing some relief. But those prices still hover at $3.66 per gallon nationally.

It can be frustrating to watch as domestic oil leaves U.S. ports faster than foreign oil comes in. But it’s a decades-old challenge, and only the nature of the crisis has changed.

Leading from behind

The United States is the world’s top producer of oil (including crude, other petroleum liquids, and biofuels) and has been since 2018. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, it’s not even close.

The EIA reports that as of 2022, the U.S. produced about 20.30 million barrels of crude oil per day — almost 10 million more than no. 2 Saudi Arabia (12.44 million) and no. 3 Russia (10.13 million).

The EIA also notes that the U.S. is the largest oil consumer, using 20.01 million barrels a day, or 20% of the global stock, and well ahead of no. 2 China with 15.7%.

So if America is producing roughly the same amount of oil as it imports, and interest in renewables is rising, shouldn’t it be true that the U.S. would not be so reliant on foreign oil, and that energy price anxieties should subside because U.S. stocks would be more than adequate?

Not by a long shot.

Oil price and politics

The reasons for the import/export discrepancy are actually fairly straightforward. Chief among them:

Foreign oil is cheaper: The cost of extraction is usually lower in other countries.

Rystad Energy, a private energy research firm, found in a 2020 analysis that Middle Eastern oil fields have the world’s lowest production cost at $31 a barrel. The U.S. produced oil from deepwater wells was at $43 a barrel, with fracking-produced oil costing $44 a barrel.

Energy as a weapon: Prices are frequently connected to how nations regard the environmental, economic, and geopolitical impacts of their oil.

Some concerns weigh heavier than others. Russia, for instance, is widely seen as using oil as a tool to gain concessions over its invasion of Ukraine.