The U.S. is on pace to leapfrog both Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest oil producer.

The latest data released by the Energy Information Administration shows U.S. output growing again next year to 11.8 million barrels a day.

Linda Capuano, who heads the agency, says that would make the U.S. the world’s No. 1 producer.

The director of the International Energy Agency, a group of oil-consuming countries, made a similar prediction in February.

Russia and Saudi Arabia pumped more crude than the U.S. last year.

Production is booming in U.S. shale fields because of newer techniques such as fracking and horizontal drilling.
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