Sovereign rows of the Our World in Data “Oil production by country” series (primary energy equivalent in TWh). Top 30 by most recent year. Aggregates excluded.
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How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “Oil Production by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by Our World in Data (mostly re-published World Bank / UN public statistics) (OWID Grapher slug “oil-production-by-country”). Values are expressed in TWh.
What to watch. The rarest sight in resource economics: a former champion reclaiming the crown. The United States led in 1900, was overtaken by Saudi Arabia and Russia late in the century, then roared back past both on the shale revolution of the 2010s.
Caveats. Output here is measured in energy terms, and definitions matter: whether condensates and natural-gas liquids are included changes national totals noticeably. Early-decade figures rest on historical reconstructions, and OPEC-era numbers can reflect quota politics as much as geology.
Trends in the data
The United States line is exceptional across the whole 125-year series. It went from 99 TWh in 1900 to 9,977 TWh in 2024, a 100.78× increase — and its maximum is the latest year itself. After stalling following 5,617 TWh in 1983, output has recently set a new record, with shale oil visible directly in the numbers. In a history where most producers deplete and decline, the oldest producer of all posting a personal best in the latest year is a rare shape.
Many countries, by contrast, are far past their peak. Venezuela fell from 2,294 TWh in 1970 to 576 TWh in 2024, just 25% of its peak — a country that ranked second only to the United States in 1941. Indonesia dropped from 988 TWh in 1977 to 348 TWh, sliding from 2nd in 1900 to 27th in 2024. The United Kingdom went from 1,594 TWh in 1999 to 354 TWh as the North Sea declined, and India fell from 3rd to 23rd.
Note that Russia’s line begins in 1985. Before that the statistics belong to the Soviet Union, and no value exists for Russia as an independent state. The absence of Russia from the left-hand side of the chart is not an absence of production but of the country by that name. Russia rose from 6,307 TWh in 1985 to a peak of 6,669 TWh in 2019 and sits second at 6,122 TWh in 2024. Saudi Arabia’s maximum was 6,823 TWh in 2016, against 5,933 TWh in 2024.
Twenty-six countries have a value in 1900, but for several of them — Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Kingdom, Ecuador, Malaysia — that value is zero. Years before production began are recorded as zero, so the left-hand edge is effectively a one-country chart of the United States. The 30-country average rose from 4.08 TWh in 1900 to 1,693.07 TWh in 2024, more than 400×. With magnitudes this far apart, a logarithmic scale, or picking a handful of leading countries, makes the changes easier to follow.
Trivia quiz
What does 'OPEC' stand for?
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, founded in Baghdad in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members. (Source)
What technology revived US oil production in the 2010s?
The shale revolution — hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') combined with horizontal drilling unlocked oil and gas from shale rock. (Source)
What is the original meaning of the oil unit 'barrel'?
A cask. Early oil was shipped in wooden barrels; one barrel equals about 159 litres. (Source)