The US shipped nearly 4 billion barrels of oil abroad in 2024

The US exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported in 2025

In fact, the US has been exporting more oil and petroleum products than it imports since August 2021. Petroleum and petroleum product exports totaled about 10.7 million barrels per day, whereas imports totaled about 7.9 million barrels per day.

As of 2022, the US accounted for nearly one-fifth of global oil production

By 2022, the US had cemented its position as the world’s top oil producer with close to 18 million barrels per day. This eclipsed Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Understanding why the US can't use its own crude oil and depends on global markets

Before advancements in fracking technology made lighter shale oil readily available, US refineries had been built and optimized for decades to process heavier oil from other countries with high profitability. Despite being able to refine lighter oil, US oil companies can operate with better margins by exporting it to other nations whose refineries are optimized for it and importing heavier oil, for which the US has the infrastructure.

See where the 100 million barrels of crude oil the world consumes daily end up

From drilling to driving, crude oil is processed in refineries and transformed into everyday products like fuel, plastics, lubricants, and cosmetics. The US currently uses about 20 million of those barrels per day.

The US stores hundreds of millions of oil barrels in caves along the Texas-Louisiana coast

The US has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that it taps into, releasing barrels into the economy, during times of emergency (think: major storms and wars) to try to stabilize markets.

View a breakdown of worldwide oil production since 1900, mostly led by the US

When analyzing the production of crude oil, shale oil, oil sands, and condensates since the start of the 20th century, Saudi Arabia produced more crude oil only in 1977, from 1979 to 1981, and from 1991 to 2016. Nations such as Iraq and the United Arab Emirates produced much smaller quantities than both Saudi Arabia and the US.

In 2019, the US became a net energy exporter thanks to the fracking boom

The US began exporting more energy than it consumed that year, making it a net energy exporter. Energy imports have decreased every year since 2007, as improved technology has increased the number of accessible domestic oil and natural gas reserves.

Why have gas prices surged nearly 27% since the Iran war began?

Oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz makes up only about 7% of US crude imports. However, crude oil prices account for 51% of the cost of a gallon of gas in the US. US refiners pay the Brent crude futures price, even for domestic drilling.

Oil prices have been volatile for decades

This explainer shows oil’s rollercoaster: OPEC-led embargoes in the 1970s, shale surges in the 2000s, and the US flip to becoming a net oil exporter in 2020.

As of 2024, the nation with the largest proven oil reserves is Venezuela

According to estimates derived from available geological and engineering data, the South American country possesses about 303 billion barrels of underground crude oil, followed by Saudi Arabia (267.2 billion) and Iran (208.6 billion). Many of the largest reserves are held by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The story of the first commercial US oil well and why crude oil is measured in barrels

The 1859 oil discovery in Titusville, Pennsylvania, sparked a boom in oil exploration and production to meet the demand for kerosene lamp fuel. Because the 42-gallon barrel was a readily available container already in use for shipping fish, butter, wine, and other goods, it was adopted by the Petroleum Producers Association in 1872 and by both the US Geological Survey and the US Bureau of Mines in 1882.

A look at types of crude oil, distinguished by properties like heaviness and sweetness

API gravity is a unit that describes how heavy or light a crude oil sample is based on its density, with higher values indicating lighter, more valuable oil that requires less processing. The sweetness of crude oil refers to the amount of sulfur it contains, where sour crude oil requires more extensive treatment to remove the more abundant sulfur and sweeten it.

How crude oil is split across oil markets based on geographic origin

Brent, West Texas Intermediate, and Dubai are the three crude oil classes and differ in terms of typical refinery uses, density, sulfur content, and suitability for financial benchmarking. Brent, which originates in the North Sea, is traders' go-to benchmark, in part, because it is easily shipped and politically stable, and used to price most of the crude sold internationally.

In 2022, the US exported more than 450,000 metric tonnes of cheese worldwide

That same year, the US cheese export market was valued at $2.3B. The main consumer markets for the US were Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Mexico was the largest importer of US cheese, with 87% of its cheese imports coming from its neighbor.

China is the world’s largest importer of crude oil

China is pushing to reduce its reliance on US oil to limit geopolitical vulnerabilities. It’s rapidly becoming the world’s renewable energy superpower.

In 2024, Americans bought over $7B of cut flowers

That's more than any other country in the world. Most of the flowers Americans purchase are imported, creating an economy that's both booming and reliant on dwindling natural resources.

Countries tried to curb plastic waste, but the US keeps shipping more

Data show that American exporters continue to ship plastic waste overseas, often to poorer countries, even though most of the world has agreed to not accept it.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

World War I brought attention to US reliance on mineral imports

Domestic stockpiles were inadequate for the extended trade disruptions caused by the four-year war. In response, the US Geological Survey increased its geological mapping to help search for important metals alongside new oil fields for fuel.

In 2024, the US committed about $82.3B to foreign aid.

That year, 67.2% of foreign aid was for economic purposes, and the remaining 32.8% was for military purposes. Israel received more US foreign aid than any other country in 2024.

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor largely because it was running out of oil

This video traces how US-led sanctions and Japan’s near-total dependence on imported oil pushed Japanese leaders toward a high-risk plan: seize Southeast Asian oil fields and neutralize the American Pacific Fleet, hoping Washington would negotiate rather than fight.

The Federal Reserve tracks how much US currency is circulated around the world every year

It's estimated that about half of US currency is circulated outside of the US. In 2023, there were 54.6B US notes circulated, with 18.9B of those being $100 bills. This chart shows how many US notes have circulated since 1997.

Tequila overtook whiskey as a top US spirits subcategory in 2023

Tequila sales in the US totaled $6.5B in 2023, surpassing whiskey's $5.3B. The shift was partially driven by premiumization, with the majority of supplier revenues coming from premium and super-premium tiers and brands.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The US tips more service providers and leaves larger amounts than anywhere else globally

This map shows how other countries stack up to the US in terms of tipping norms, and could be helpful if you’re planning to budget for a trip abroad. It also indicates if tips are typically included in the bill in each country.

How Standard Oil created Chevron and ExxonMobil

Standard Oil was eventually ordered to separate into 34 different entities, and over the following years, those 34 companies merged into what is now called the “Big Four” in the oil industry.

Container ships are just a fraction of total traffic via the canal

While more container ships traverse the canal than any other type of ship, vessels carrying dry bulk goods, vehicle carriers, chemical tankers, passenger ships, and more also pass through the Central American passageway.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.