Oil Producing Countries 2024

Oil, also commonly referred to as petroleum, is one of the top money-making commodities in the world today. Required for the production of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and many other products, oil is one of the most fundamental and vital resources in the modern world. Oil extraction is a double-edged sword, as the process of extracting, refining, and burning fossil fuels such as oil is proven to be harmful to the environment. The United States is the world's largest consumer of oil, as well as the world's largest producer of oil, although several countries have larger oil reserves than the U.S. Despite its world-leading production, the U.S. also imports oil from dozens of other countries.

Roughly half of the world's countries produce oil in some capacity. Oil production is measured in barrels per day or BPD. Most oil producing countries produce thousands, even millions of barrels per day, with their total output often limited by market forces rather than by production capability. For instance, gas prices rose sharply in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but oil companies in the U.S. chose to take the increased per-gallon profits rather than increase production (which would increase supply and lower per-gallon prices).

Top 10 Oil-Producing Countries (barrels per day):

The United States

With a rough estimate of 17,770,000 barrels per day, the United States is the top oil-producing country in the world, as it has been for many years. The US also consumes more oil than any other country worldwide. The United States also imports upwards of 8 million barrels of oil per day.

Saudi Arabia

The world's largest exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia possesses around 15-17% of the world’s petroleum reserves. Like most Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, Saudi Arabia's economy is heavily centered around oil. The oil and gas industry makes up roughly 50% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 70% of its export earnings. Saudi Arabia also exports natural gas, gold, iron ore, and copper.

Russia

The world's largest country by land area, Russia is also one of the largest oil producers. Russia supplies both oil and natural gas to many parts of the world, particularly China and Europe. This arrangement caused significant complications when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, triggering many countries in the EU and elsewhere to place an embargo on Russian goods. Many countries, such as Germany, carved out exceptions so they could still import Russian oil and gas but at the same time sought to establish new trading partners and energy processing capabilities so as to reduce their reliance on Russian trade.

Canada

Fourth in the world on the list of top oil producers is Canada, extracting about 5,576,000 barrels of oil per day. Canada’s oil production has been increasing slowly but steadily over the past several years. The nation is only 22nd among countries with the largest oil reserves, but it is the largest exporter of oil to the US. It is also among the top consumers of oil, placing ninth for 2023 at 2,351,000 BPD.

Iraq

Fifth on the list is Iraq, producing 4,520,000 barrels of oil per day. Iraq also has the fourth largest oil reserves of about 145,019 million barrels and is the fourth largest exporter of oil into the United States at 113,668 barrels per day. Conversely, Iraq is only the 24th largest consumer of oil in the world.

China

China is ranked as the sixth-largest oil-producing country, extracting about 4,111,000 barrels of oil per day. Notably, population size and the total area of a nation have little to do with its oil production volumes. More relevant factors are the country's expertise at locating and extracting oil as well as its political connections and the rules governing where it can and cannot extract oil. For example, most of the oil that China produces is extracted from regions in the Middle Eastern country of Iran, not the Chinese homeland.

United Arab Emirates

Seventh largest oil producer, the UAE extracts about 4,020,000 BPD. The country also boasts the fifth largest oil reserves of 113,000 million barrels as of 2022. The UAE is only the 24th largest exporter of oil into the United States and the 20th largest consumer of oil in the world.

Iran

Iran is the world’s eighth largest producer of oil with 3,822,000 barrels produced per day. Iran has the third largest oil reserves of 208,600 million barrels and is also the twelfth largest consumer of oil globally.

Brazil

Number nine on the list of top oil producers, Brazil extracts 3,107,000 barrels per day. Among the nations with the largest oil reserves, Brazil is only 14th at 13,424 million barrels. It is also the sixth largest exporter of oil into the United States and is eighth on the list of countries that consume the most oil.

Kuwait

The tenth-largest producer of oil is Kuwait. This Western Asian nation experienced a roller coaster in oil production rates between 2016 and 2022. In 2016, Kuwait derived 3,072,000 barrels of oil per day, compared to the rate of 2,753,000 BPD in 2020. By 2022, this rate jumped back up to 3,028,000 barrels per day. Oil makes up 60% of Kuwait’s GDP and just over 95% of its export revenue.