Production Trends

Oil and natural gas drive the world’s industrial and economic growth. The industry is broad with operations focusing on exploring, extracting, refining, and marketing these resources. Billions of barrels of oil and cubic feet of natural gas are produced and consumed every year and the world’s demand for energy will increase by 50 percent in 20 years and could double by 2050. Fossil fuels currently supply more than 80% of world energy needs and will continue to play a major role in meeting the world's growing demands to sustain economic development.

From households to businesses to governments, these natural commodities serve as the backbone of everyday life. The consumption and demand of these resources has continued to grow as the world’s economy has grown. The following graphs illustrate the trend in oil and natural gas production within the United States.

World demand for oil and natural gas has continued to increase as well. According to various sources, world crude oil production went from 20.99 million barrels per day in 1960, to 73.78 million barrels per day in 2008, representing an increase of over 250 percent. Worldwide oil and gas production trends are represented in the following graphs.

Increasingly our oil and gas supplies are coming from unconventional resources, such as heavy oil, natural gas from tight sands, and oil and gas from shale formations. Our ability to extract and utilize these resources results from years of development of new technologies and methods such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Developing these resources has also presented some environmental challenges. The industry faces increasing scrutiny over issues such as environmental footprint, air emissions and produced water.