Special to WorldTribune.com

The shale boom has paved the way for the U.S. to surpass Russia as the world leader in energy production.

According to a survey released on June 10 by BP Plc’s Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. oil output, fueled by fracking, increased by 1.6 million barrels per day in 2014. Natural gas output also increased as the U.S. jumped ahead of Russia as the leading producer of the hydrocarbons combined.

“We are truly witnessing a changing of the guard of global energy suppliers,” BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale said. “The implications of the shale revolution for the U.S. are profound.”

The BP report also showed a major shift in China’s energy demand as it grew at the slowest pace since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

“Growth in some of China’s most energy-intensive sectors, such as steel, iron and cement — which had thrived during China’s rapid industrialization — virtually collapsed in 2014,” said Dale, a former Bank of England chief economist who joined BP last year.

Exxon Mobil Corp. to Chesapeake Energy Corp. invested nearly $120 billion in shale drilling last year in the U.S., over twice the amount from five years earlier. The surge in output, however, and a drop in global demand have pushed crude oil prices down about 40 percent in the past year.

BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said on June 10 that lower prices will force some producers to shut in “frothy activity” at some shale fields in the U.S. but most output can work even at current prices. The number of rigs drilling in shale fields are down by half from last October’s peak but still may stabilize by the end of the summer, he said.

“The shale revolution hasn’t run out of steam in the U.S.,” Dudley said.

Last year, the U.S. overtook Saudi Arabia as a crude producer, marking the first time a country has raised production by at least 1 million barrels a day for three consecutive years, BP said.

  BP report, shale oil, Thanks to fracking, U.S. tops Russia and Saudis as top energy producer, WorldTribune.com