OPEC+ reached an internal agreement to prolong its oil production cuts, a move that could raise energy prices in the U.S. ahead of the pivotal 2024 elections, Reuters reported Monday.

Vladimir Putin is throwing everything he has got at ramping up Russia’s war machine. 

That is why the nation’s economy – if one believes Moscow’s figures – has held up better than might have been expected in the face of Western sanctions. Rather than reflecting anything remotely like prosperity, the statistics show more weapons being produced for the meat grinder of eastern Ukraine. 

The US is the largest crude oil producer in the world, pumping out nearly 13 million barrels on average every day in 2023, an all-time record, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration.

That’s an awkward milestone for President Joe Biden, who has arguably done more than any modern president to facilitate America’s transition away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives.

The U.S. led the world in oil production for the sixth consecutive year in 2023, according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Crude oil production in the U.S., including condensate, averaged 12.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023 — a level which surpassed the American and global record of 12.3 million b/d that the U.S. set in 2019. Average monthly U.S. crude oil production also reached a record high in December 2023 at more than 13.3 million b/d.

In mid-December, I wrote here that the U.S. had set a new annual oil production record:

“The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.”