The US increased their oil production by 16% last year, 516 million tons. This made America the 3rd largest oil producer in the world, after the Saudis and Russia.

I don't know how the metrics are determined (such as yearly cycle dates versus monthly, etc) but I was pretty surprised to have recently read that the United States actually is the world's largest producer of oil. That's according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This news struck me as ironic, because when President Obama was running in 2008, and 2012, his Republicans opponents were making some outrageous predictions based on Obama's environmental and energy policies*: Newt Gingrich predicted an Obama 2nd term would lead to gas prices of $10.00 dollars a gallon. And Senator Mike Lee (R- Utah) addressed the Senate, “predicted that if Obama was reelected gas would cost $5.45 per gallon by the start 2015. Lee said that gas prices would rise 5 cents for every month Obama was in office, ultimately reaching $6.60 per gallon.” Today's gas price are around $2.25 per gallon, according to Gas Buddy. (http://then.gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-04/u-s-seen-as-biggest-oil-producer-after-overtaking-saudi

http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/the-u-s-is-now-the-worlds-top-oil-producer.html/?a=viewall

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jan/04/amy-klobuchar/klobuchar-says-us-worlds-no-1-oil-producer/

there are other links that write about this

While in the short term, it's great economic news, it seems to me, the impact on global warming is going to be detrimental. Cheap oil = lower prices = increased usage. And with so much cheap oil, I wonder about the economic incentives for research and development for solar power, and alternative energy. (speaking of cheap oil, just a few minutes ago, CNBC reported (http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/04/us-crude-edges-towards-46-eyes-on-inventory-data.html)Oil settles at $45.15 a barrel, slumping to new low)

But it seems too, that dropping prices is going to impact a lot of the new drilling methods that are the source for the new (shale) oil; if the prices drop too low, the profitability is lost, and well, incentive goes bye-bye and the new oil doesn't get to market. And as has been written here in previous posts, with the constantly dropping prices, President Putin (http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/16/russian-and-its-oil-are-likely-to-be-losers-in-iran-deal.html) has to be worried too. But in a CNBC report ("Russia and its oil are likely to be losers in Iran deal"), sees a mixed bag in terms of the Iran deal and its impact on Russia, as the Iranian oil starts to flow to European markets

But others say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin when he hails the [Iranian] deal as a positive step for the Middle East, which he has done publicly. Alexander Kliment, director of Russia and emerging market research at Eurasia Group, told CNBC that if the Russians seriously wanted to scuttle an Iran deal, they had plenty of chances to do so. "The short-term oil price drop, if and when it materializes, will hit Russia, but for the Kremlin, that's a manageable price to pay in order to avoid a nuclear arms race in the Middle East or a U.S./Israeli strike on Iran, both of which have always been far worse options from the Russian perspective," Kliment said.