U.S. Could Become World’s Top Oil Producer Soon [AUDIO]

The United States could surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's number one oil producer within the decade.

The International Energy Agency in Paris says the U-S could pass Saudi Arabia by 2020. Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information service says we're becoming number one for two reasons.

He says, "Number one is price. The price is pretty high, relative to where it has been for the past twenty years. And number two, technology."

Kloza says at 90 dollars-a-barrel and above, and technology that can now snake five miles under an oil shale formation to wring out crude, our output will spiral upwards. But he adds domestic conservation's also a factor. Kloza says there is no question that we are on what he calls a, "demand slide" for gasoline.

The I-E-A says we could become nearly self-sufficient by the year 2035. The United States currently imports around 20 percent of its energy needs.

The IEA says rebounding U.S. oil and gas production and increasing light tight oil and shale gas resources are "steadily changing the role of North America in global energy trade" and will speed up the change of direction of international oil trade from the Middle East toward Asia.