According to four oil and gas analysts surveyed by the business-news group Bloomberg, the USA may export more crude oil in 2017 than is being produced by four individual OPEC nations, and its exports could even increase if President Trump fulfils his pledges to ease drilling restrictions and maximise output.

The world’s largest oil-consuming country is expected to sell as much as 800,000 barrels a day of crude overseas this year. That is more than Libya, Qatar, Ecuador and Gabon each pumped in December.

The USA exported 527,000 barrels a day in the first 11 months of last year, US Energy Information Administration data show.

Vikas Dwivedi, senior analyst at Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc, said that, since restrictions on US crude exports were lifted in late 2015, domestic producers are free to seek buyers in Europe, Asia and Latin America, which are seeking alternative suppliers after OPEC producers decided to cut their output in 2017.

He added: “US production will be bigger than most people are expecting.”