US Energy Profile: Oil, Gas, Power and Policy (2026)

Last updated: October 7, 2026

The United States produces more crude oil and more natural gas than any other country, runs the world’s largest refining system outside OPEC, operates the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, and has become a top-three LNG exporter in under a decade. This profile lays out the current numbers behind each part of the US energy system — electricity, oil, gas, coal, nuclear, renewables, reserves, infrastructure and policy — with the year and source attached to every figure.

Energy Overview

The US energy system is built on abundant domestic fossil fuel production, a large and diverse electricity grid, and a growing export business. Natural gas is the single largest fuel in both electricity generation and overall primary energy use, crude oil output has hit successive records since 2023, and the country has gone from a net energy importer in the 2000s to a net exporter of petroleum and natural gas. Nuclear and coal remain significant but shrinking shares of the power mix, while wind and solar have grown fastest among new generation added over the past five years.

Electricity Mix

US utility-scale power plants generated about 4.43 trillion kWh in 2025, plus roughly 0.09 trillion kWh from small-scale solar not counted in utility totals, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Source: EIA, “Electricity in the United States,” 2025 data. Figures are utility-scale shares and are rounded; they do not sum to exactly 100% due to rounding.

Oil

US crude oil production averaged a record 13.6 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2025, according to EIA International Energy Statistics — about 40% higher than the next two largest producers, Russia (roughly 9.9 million b/d in 2024) and Saudi Arabia (9.6 million b/d in 2025), combined. The US overtook Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest crude producer in 2018 and has held the position since. On a monthly basis, EIA’s series put July 2026 production at 432.4 million barrels for the month (series MCRFPUS1), equivalent to roughly 13.9 million b/d averaged across the month. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts US output near 13.7 million b/d in 2026 and rising to 14.2 million b/d in 2027. Using a broader “total petroleum liquids” measure that includes natural gas liquids and refinery gain, EIA-based rankings put 2024 US output at 22.84 million b/d, well ahead of Saudi Arabia’s 10.88 million b/d on the same basis — the two measures (crude-only vs. all-liquids) are not directly comparable, so it matters which one a source is quoting.

Growth has been driven almost entirely by shale and tight-oil drilling, particularly in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The US domestic crude benchmark is WTI (West Texas Intermediate), priced at Cushing, Oklahoma, which trades alongside the international Brent benchmark.

Natural Gas

The US has been the world’s largest natural gas producer every year from 2009 through 2024, the most recent year for which EIA has complete global comparison data. Production kept climbing in 2026: the country averaged 121.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of dry gas output in the first half of 2026, EIA reported, up 4% from the same period in 2025, with most of the growth coming from the Permian Basin and the Haynesville Shale (Louisiana/Texas). EIA’s monthly dry-production series shows July 2026 output of 3,524,896 million cubic feet (MMcf) for the month — about 113.7 Bcf/d averaged over the month. Natural gas is now the single largest source of US electricity generation and the fuel behind the country’s rapid rise as an LNG exporter (see below).

Coal

US coal production totaled 125.4 million short tons in the second quarter of 2026, per EIA data, which the agency still marks as preliminary. Coal’s share of US electricity generation has fallen from over 50% in the early 2000s to about 17% in 2025, as plants have retired or switched to gas, though the Trump administration’s February 2026 executive order framing coal as “essential to our national and economic security” has slowed some planned retirements at plants serving defense facilities.

Nuclear

As of March 2026, the US operates 94 commercial nuclear reactors at 54 plants in 28 states — the largest nuclear fleet of any country — with about 98.4 GW (98,441 MW) of net summer generating capacity, per EIA. Nuclear supplied about 17% of US electricity generation in 2025. Several reactor restarts, life extensions and new small modular reactor (SMR) projects are in progress, including NRC’s 2026 construction-permit approval for TVA’s Clinch River SMR project in Tennessee.

Solar, Wind, Hydro and Other Renewables

Wind supplied about 11% of 2025 utility-scale generation and solar about 7%, making them the two fastest-growing sources of new generating capacity over the past five years. Conventional hydropower, concentrated in the Pacific Northwest and the Tennessee Valley, contributed about 6%. Biomass and geothermal together added roughly 1%. Small-scale (largely rooftop) solar generated an additional ~0.09 trillion kWh in 2025 that is tracked separately from utility-scale totals.

Reserves and Resources

EIA’s Annual Report of Domestic Oil and Gas Reserves, released April 7, 2026, put US proved crude oil and lease condensate reserves at 46.0 billion barrels at year-end 2024 (45,951 million barrels unrounded), down about 1% from 46.4 billion barrels at year-end 2023 — a decline EIA attributes mainly to lower oil and gas prices affecting the economics of the estimate, not to production, which actually rose 2% in 2024. Shale plays accounted for 60% of reserves (27.5 billion barrels, up from 26.2 billion in 2023). Texas holds the largest state total at roughly 19.6 billion barrels, followed by New Mexico (7.07 billion) and Alaska (3.12 billion).

Proved natural gas reserves stood at 583.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) at year-end 2024, down 3% from 603.6 Tcf in 2023, again largely on lower prices; Texas reserves fell 7% (the largest state decline, -10.2 Tcf), while Alaska’s rose from 97 Tcf to 103 Tcf. Shale formations held 379.4 Tcf of the total.

EIA’s coal reserves data (effective January 1, 2025) put the demonstrated reserve base at about 468.4 billion short tons, with 249.4 billion short tons classified as estimated recoverable reserves and 110.6 billion short tons recoverable at currently producing mines.

Major Companies

US-headquartered ExxonMobil (Spring, Texas) is the country’s largest publicly traded oil major, producing 4.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 led by the Permian Basin and Guyana. Other major US-based energy companies include Chevron (San Ramon, California), ConocoPhillips (Houston, upstream-focused), and large power/utility groups such as NextEra Energy, Duke Energy and Southern Company. Independent shale producers — including EOG Resources, Diamondback Energy, Pioneer-successor operators and Coterra Energy — drive much of the Permian Basin’s and Haynesville’s output growth.

Major Fields and Basins

The Permian Basin, spanning West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is the dominant US oil and gas play and the single biggest driver of national production growth; EIA attributes most of the 2026 increase in both crude and gas output to it. Other major producing areas include the Eagle Ford Shale (South Texas), the Bakken (North Dakota), the Marcellus and Utica shales (Appalachia — the largest gas-producing region after the Permian), and the fast-growing Haynesville Shale (Louisiana/East Texas), much of whose gas now feeds Gulf Coast LNG terminals. A dedicated The Daily Energy profile of the Permian Basin is in development.

Pipelines and Refineries

Crude and products move across the country through major systems such as the Colonial Pipeline (refined products, Gulf Coast to the New York Harbor area), the Keystone pipeline network (Canadian and Bakken crude to Gulf Coast refineries), and the Dakota Access Pipeline (Bakken crude to Illinois). On the refining side, the US had 130 operable refineries and 18.2 million barrels per calendar day (b/cd) of atmospheric distillation capacity as of January 1, 2026, per EIA’s Refinery Capacity Report — down about 250,000 b/cd from a year earlier after LyondellBasell closed its 263,776 b/cd Houston refinery (March 2025) and Phillips 66 closed its 138,700 b/cd Los Angeles refinery (October 2025). Motiva’s Port Arthur, Texas refinery is the largest in the country on a calendar-day basis (656,000 b/cd); Marathon’s Galveston Bay refinery is largest on a stream-day basis (678,000 b/sd). Refining capacity is heavily concentrated on the Texas–Louisiana Gulf Coast.

LNG

The US has become one of the world’s largest LNG exporters within roughly a decade of its first cargo (2016), and Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said exports are on track to top 120 million tonnes in 2026. Key export terminals include:

Estimates vary: LNG capacity figures circulate in several incompatible units — million tonnes per year (Mtpa) vs. billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), and nameplate design capacity vs. DOE-authorized vs. currently available capacity. Treat comparisons across terminals and sources with that caveat; EIA and DOE’s own LNG export authorization records are the most reliable basis for a terminal-by-terminal ranking.

Major Projects and Energy Policy

President Trump declared a National Energy Emergency on his first day in office (Executive Order 14156, January 20, 2025), directing agencies to use emergency authority to speed permitting for energy infrastructure; the declaration was continued for another year by a notice published in the Federal Register on January 14, 2026. The administration also reversed a Biden-era pause on new LNG export-permit approvals — paused in early 2024 pending a Department of Energy/national-laboratory study — and resumed processing applications, issuing its first new approval to the planned Commonwealth LNG terminal near Cameron, Louisiana (reported capacity near 9.5 Mtpa). Several other approvals since have been extensions of existing authorizations rather than brand-new permits, including the Golden Pass in-service deadline extension noted above. A separate February 11, 2026 executive order addressed coal power for defense facilities, framing continued coal generation as a national-security matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the US the largest oil producer in the world?

Yes. The US produced a record 13.6 million b/d of crude oil on average in 2025 (EIA), about 40% more than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined, and has held the top spot since overtaking both in 2018.

Is the US the largest natural gas producer in the world?

Yes, through the most recent year with complete global data (2024); the US has led global gas production every year since 2009, and 2026 output is running higher still.

What share of US electricity comes from renewables?

About 24% of 2025 utility-scale generation came from renewables combined — roughly 11% wind, 7% solar, 6% hydropower and about 1% biomass and geothermal — per EIA.

Is the US a net exporter of oil and gas?

The US exports more petroleum and petroleum products than it imports on a net basis, and natural gas exports (largely as LNG and pipeline gas to Mexico and Canada) now exceed imports as well, reversing the import-dependent pattern of the 2000s.

Where does most US oil and gas production come from?

The Permian Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is by far the largest source of growth in both oil and gas output, followed by the Eagle Ford, Bakken, Haynesville and the Appalachian Marcellus/Utica shales for gas.

Related The Daily Energy Pages

• What Is Natural Gas and How Is It Used?
• What Is LNG?
• What Is WTI Crude Oil?
• What Is Brent Crude?
• What Is Fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing)?
• ExxonMobil: Ownership, Leadership and Major Assets
• What Is OPEC?

Sources

• EIA, “Electricity in the United States” (energyexplained), 2025 generation-mix data
• EIA International Energy Statistics; EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook, 2025–2027 crude oil production and forecasts
• EIA, Petroleum and Other Liquids data (series MCRFPUS1), monthly US crude oil production
• EIA, “U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2024” (released April 7, 2026)
• EIA, Natural Gas Dry Production data (monthly), and Short-Term Energy Outlook, first-half 2026 production
• EIA, Quarterly Coal Production data, Q2 2026 (preliminary)
• EIA, coal reserves FAQ, data effective January 1, 2025
• EIA, “U.S. Nuclear Industry” (energyexplained), reactor count as of March 2026, generation share 2025
• EIA, “U.S. refining capacity decreased during 2025” (June 29, 2026) and 2026 Refinery Capacity Report
• US Department of Energy LNG export authorization actions, 2026; public statements by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright
• Federal Register, Executive Order 14156 continuation notice (published January 14, 2026); White House executive orders, 2025–2026

Illustrative image. Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source