Oil Production in the United States has been growing by leaps and bounds due to shale oil production made possible by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing and is now at a 25 year high. Oil production in 2013 totaled 7.5 million barrels per day, a level not seen since 1989. Oil production in 2013 was almost a million barrels per day higher than oil production in 2012—a 15 percent increase and the largest annual increase since 1940. The increase in oil production has brought a boom to other sectors with rail car oil shipments up 83 percent and the oil tanker construction business booming with over 15 tanker orders. With greater oil production, the United States is importing less crude oil and petroleum– 16 percent less in 2013 than in 2012 on a net basis (imports minus exports). In fact, as of September 2013, China has replaced the United States as the largest net importer of crude oil and petroleum.
