The Most Revealing Oil and Gas Industry Statistics for 2025
With soaring gas and oil prices, a global surge in energy costs and widespread political turmoil, the state of energy production is set to get even more chaotic in the months and years to come. Here's some of the most important numbers regarding the industry today.
Key Oil and Gas Industry Statistics for 2025 - Editor’s Choice:
- With 12.9 million barrels per day, the US was the biggest oil producer in 2023.
- Texas is the largest oil-producing state in the US, with 2.16 billion barrels produced in 2024.
- Russia has the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world.
- The average hourly wage for oil and gas industry employees in the US was $47.57 in October 2024.
- There were 9 fatalities in the US industry in 2023.
The Distribution of Oil and Gas
With so many countries still fighting over commodities and supremacy on the market, the first factor we’ll give you insight into is the distribution of the world's crude oil and gas reserves. We’ll scan 20 years of data and examine all the fluctuations between the regions that are home to petroleum reserves. Things change as consumption increases, and the distribution of oil and gas is the source of much global turmoil.
The US was the biggest oil producer in 2023 with an output of 12.9 million barrels per day.
(Statista)
The country's oil production reached its peak in 2019, with an output of more than 17 million barrels per day.
The reason behind the skyrocketing growth can be found in the 2008 recession, which caused Middle Eastern countries to increase oil prices. As a result, the US became highly motivated to expand production domestically and reduce imports of crude oil.
As of 2024, the Middle East accounts for 55.5% of known oil reserves.
(Statista)
While the Middle East is still easily the largest region when it comes to oil reserves, the latest figures show a significant decline, given that the Middle East held over 60% of global reserves in 1992.
This is understandable due to new discoveries of crude oil reserves in the Americas, especially Venezuela.
Texas is the largest oil-producing state in the US, with 2.16 billion barrels produced in 2024.
(Statista)
The Lone Star State is by far the largest oil-producing state in the US. The latest data shows that the next-biggest state producer was New Mexico, with 665 million barrels.
Texas is home to the biggest basin in the US - the Permian - which accounts for 6.16 million barrels per day in 2024.
(Statista)
The American oil industry heavily depends on Texas oil production. The Lone Star State is the home to the biggest and most productive basin in the US, the Permian. By 2024, the basin accounted for a total production of 6.16 million barrels per day, a large increase from the September 2020 level of 4.3 million.
Bakken in North Dakota is in second place, with a significantly lower production of 1.31 million barrels per day, while the Eagle Ford Basin in Texas accounts for 1.1 million barrels.
The least productive basin was Haynesville in Louisiana, with an average production of 32,222 barrels per day.
Proven natural gas reserves in the UK amount to 172 billion cubic meters.
(Statista)
Natural gas reserves in the UK have been rapidly dropping for years Back in 1995, the UK boasted 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas. In 2020, this number was at 200 billion.
The US is the largest gas producer worldwide, with an output of 1.35 trillion cubic meters in 2024.
(INN)
The second most significant contributor to natural gas production on the planet is Russia, with an output of 586.4 billion cubic meters per year. Iran, China, and Canada are highly ranked too.
Russia has the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world.
(Statista)
It sits in second place on the list of gas producers, and Russia’s oil and gas industry outlook is even brighter when it comes to reserves. In 2024, Russia housed the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world: 47 trillion cubic meters, which is a big increase on the 2010 figure of 34.1 trillion.
Second place is reserved for Iran, which holds a share of 34, while Qatar is ranked third with 23.9 trillion cubic meters. With 17.7 trillion cubic meters, the United States is positioned in the fourth place.
Employment Data
These jobs relate to exploration for natural gas and crude petroleum, drilling wells, emulsion breakers, operating separators, desilting equipment, and field gathering lines for gas and oil.
They also include tasks associated with the process of preparing oil and gas for shipment. The industry is large and diverse, and so are jobs. We’ve compiled a list of interesting numbers to help you better understand the production ecosystem.
The number of industry employees in the US in November 2024 was 119,700.
(Bureau of Labor Statistics)
The numbers that the BLS (US Bureau of Labor Statistics) releases on a monthly basis show that the number of industry employees has pretty much remained steady in the past few years.
The average hourly wage for oil and gas industry employees in the US was $47.57 in October 2024.
(Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Production and nonsupervisory employees earned $42.26 per hour on average.
Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers, earned a median hourly wage of $75.40 (mean $75.28), while petroleum engineers had median hourly earnings of $76.31 (mean $78.45).
Hourly median wages were much lower for petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers ($38.34), roustabouts ($21.97), and wellhead pumpers ($37.24).
Average hourly wages in the US oil and gas industry grew by 28.45% between 2014 and 2024.
(Bureau of Labor Statistics)
In Januar 2014, the average hourly wage was $36.83 whereas the figures for the same period in 2024 amounted to $47.31.
In Canada, oil and gas industry employment has increased by 16.7% (or 10,8700 jobs) in 2024.
(Samfiru Tumarkin)
Canada is once again seeing a rejuvenation in the industry, with a 10-year high in the employment numbers in roles like engineers and geologists in 2024.
Work-Related Fatalities, Injuries, and Accidents
Even though the industry is performing well overall, there are several problems that affect employees, especially those in the production and nonsupervisory sectors.
We’ll now present you with a bunch of not-so-fun safety numbers so that you can be well aware of the dark sides of this type of work.
The largest number of US industry fatalities in the past five years occurred in 2019, with 22 deaths.
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, CDC)
The following year was more bearable, with seven cases, similar to 2017’s eight cases. In 2023, there were nine fatalities.
The most considerable number of work-related casualties happened on well-servicing tasks. Drilling operations, specialized freight, and similar duties are the most likely to cause deaths.
The average number of job-related injuries and illnesses in the US is 1.8 per 100 workers.
(Statista)
Over a period of study from 2006 to 2022, there was a noticeable steady decline in job-related injuries and illnesses in the US gas and oil industry. Namely, the figures in 2006 revealed that there were 3.4 cases of injury or illness per 100 workers.
The number of liquid pipeline incidents is down 23% in the last five years.
(Liquid Energy Pipeline Association)
The latest data shows that in 2023, there were 87 fewer incidents involving liquid pipelines than five years earlier in 2019.
Sources
For years, the clients I worked for were banks. That gave me an insider’s view of how banks and other institutions create financial products and services. Then I entered the world of journalism. Fortunly is the result of our fantastic team’s hard work. I use the knowledge I acquired as a bank copywriter to create valuable content that will help you make the best possible financial decisions.
