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Proven oil reserves in the United States were 36.4 billion barrels (5.79×109 m3) of crude oil as of the end of 2014, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The 2014 reserves represent the largest US proven reserves since 1972, and a 90% increase in proved reserves since 2008. The Energy Information Administration estimates US undiscovered, technically recoverable oil resources to be an additional 198 billion barrels.
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Proven reserves
US proven oil reserves were 26.5 billion barrels (4.21×109 m3) as of 2011. The 2011 data represent a 39% increase in proved reserves since 2008, but is 32% lower than the 39 billion barrels (6.2×109 m3) of proven reserves in 1970, when the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field was found in Alaska.
Production
United States crude oil production declined since reaching a smaller secondary production peak in 1988 (caused by Alaskan production), but increased again from 2009 to 2015. Total production of crude oil from 1970 through 2006 was 102 billion barrels (16.2×109 m3), or roughly five and a half times the decline in proved reserves.
Since the oil price peaked about US$147.50 in summer 2008 many projects have been brought online, and domestic production increased from 2009 to 2015. It takes a few years to develop an oil field. In 2012 the oil production of the USA increased by 800,000 barrels, the highest ever recorded increase in one year since oil drilling began 1859. The US had recently increased its oil driling locatio as they have passed Saudi Arabia and also and Russia Oil-bearing shales in North Dakota and Montana are producing increasing amounts of oil. As of April 2013, US crude production was at a more than 20-year high, since the shale gas and tight oil boom; production was near 7.2 million barrels per day. Experts think that the USA could pass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer. Peak production was 10,044 barrels per day in November 1970. A second, but lower peak of 9,627 barrels per day was achieved in April 2015.
The reserves-to-production ratio (R/P) equaled 11.26 years in 2007. The ratio was 11.08 years in 1970. It hit a trough of 8.49 years in 1986 as oil pumped through the Alaska pipeline began to peak.
Consumption and imports
The US consumption of petroleum products peaked in 2005; by 2012, consumption had declined 11% from the peak.
Net imports of oil and products account for nearly half of the US trade deficit. Because of declining production and increasing demand, net US imports of oil and petroleum products increased from 3.16 million barrels per day (502×103 m3/d) in 1970 to 12.04 million barrels per day (1.914×106 m3/d) in 2007, before declining. Its largest net suppliers of petroleum products in 2007 were Canada and Mexico, which supplied 2.2 and 1.3 Mbbl/d (350×103 and 210×103 m3/d), respectively. As of 2011, the US consumed 18.8 million barrels of petroleum products per day, and imported a net 8.4 million barrels per day; the EIA reported the United States "Dependence on Net Petroleum Imports" in 2011 as 45%. During 2008-2009 the USA became a net exporter of refined oil products; before the US bought gasoline, diesel and kerosene in Europe, and smaller amounts from other countries.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The United States maintains a Strategic Petroleum Reserve at four sites on the Gulf of Mexico, with a total capacity of 727 million barrels (115.6×106 m3) of crude oil. The maximum total withdrawal capability from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve is 4.4 million barrels (700,000 m3) per day. This is roughly 32% of US oil imports, or 75% of imports from OPEC.