US crude output fell 2 percent in May to 13.71 million barrels per day

Data released by the US Energy Information Administration on Friday, 31 July 2026, show that US crude oil production fell about 2 percent in May from April, averaging 13.71 million barrels per day. Over the same month, US crude exports rose from 5.59 million to 5.73 million barrels per day.

According to the same data, total US demand for crude and refined products fell more than 3.5 percent in May to about 20.07 million barrels per day, the lowest level since March 2025. Distillate fuel demand, which is mainly gasoil, dropped to 3.57 million barrels per day, the lowest reading since June 2020. Gross natural gas production eased to 134 billion cubic feet per day in May, from 135.3 billion in April; the figure stood at 136 billion cubic feet per day in December 2025.

Gasoil is among the products that have seen the sharpest price increases during the recent war, because West Asia is both the main supplier of the fuel and the source of the crude grades best suited to producing it. A simultaneous decline in output and demand in the world's largest oil producer is one of the variables in the global supply and demand balance, which bears on oil prices and, through them, on Iran's foreign currency earnings.