The USA remained the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas in 2014, according to the latest figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA); its output increased by about 10% to nearly 55 quadrillion Btu (British thermal units).

That increase represented a 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) rise in crude-oil production and a 13.9 billion ft3 per day rise in natural-gas production. US output now stands at about twice that of Saudi Arabia, while Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of oil and natural gas.

Meanwhile, Saudi oil production reached a record 10.3 million bpd in March, according to Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi (450,000 bpd higher than in February).

The highest previous record — 10.285 million bpd — was registered in 1980, according to the EIA. The minister said that he expects Saudi Arabia’s production to stay at around 10 million bpd and that he expects crude prices to rise before the end of the year.