Sharply higher U.S. energy production and cooperation with other major energy producers are strengthening the Trump administration’s ability to impose sanctions on Iran.
The United States is now the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids, supplying more than 19 percent of global production. The U.S. produced 1.6 million additional barrels per day during 2018, as compared to 2017. Production will rise nearly that much again in 2019, according to forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The U.S. remains in close consultation with major oil producers, as well as major organizations of oil consumers such as the International Energy Agency, to ensure that the global oil market remains well supplied.
“The sanctions have certainly had their intended effect,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a May 23 interview. “They have put constraints on the leadership in Iran’s ability to foment terror. There are Hezbollah soldiers who are no longer being paid or are being paid a fraction of what they were being paid before. Their ability to expand their terror network in the world has been reduced.”
