For the past six years, the country that has produced the most oil (and liquids) has been Russia. Saudi Arabia has been second, until this past March according to data from the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI), the information-gathering arm of the International Energy Forum (IEF). JODI represents member countries that produce about 90% of the world’s crude.
Saudi Arabia’s production rose to 9.923 million barrels/day in March, compared with 9.920 million barrels/day of production from Russia. US production in March is given as 5.889 million barrels/day, making the US the third largest producer in the world, ahead of fourth place Iran, which produced 3.755 million barrels/day.
The JODI ranking is, for the most part meaningless, except to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants his country to produce 10 million barrels/day and to be recognized for it. While the ranking is useful only for bragging rights, the time series data from JODI goes back to 2002 and is very granular and useful.
