US oil, gas output could jump 25% by 2025

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that a dramatic increase in shale production will transform the US into the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2015, the media reported.

The dramatic shifts envisioned by the IEA in its World Energy Outlook would transform the US from an energy importer into a major player in global markets capable of producing 30 million barrels of oil and gas a day by 2025, reports CNN.

The US surpassed Russia in 2011 to become the world's top producer of oil and gas, with a current daily output of 24 million barrels.

"A remarkable ability to unlock new resources cost-effectively pushes combined United States oil and gas output to a level 50 per cent higher than any other country has ever managed," the IEA said on Tuesday.

It predicted that US shale oil producers will boost their output by 8 million barrels a day between 2010 and 2025, an increase that "would match the highest sustained period of oil output growth by a single country in the history of oil markets" -- rivaling even the massive increase posted by Saudi Arabia between 1966 and 1981.

The expected US surge will account for 80 per cent of the increase in global supply over the time period.

--IANS

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