Saudi Arabia Reclaims Title As World's Top Oil Producing Nation

The United States, the world's top oil producing nation since April 2014, was just overtaken by Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. was the largest producer of crude and liquid hydrocarbons after the 2014 shale oil boom attracted many producers to the market.

According to a Bloomberg report, Saudi Arabia reclaimed the title after the country added a daily incremental production rate of 400,000 barrels of oil since May from low-cost fields.

On the other hand, approximately 460,000 barrels of oil per day from high-cost production areas were shut down in the U.S. The U.S. shale oil industry has seen total investments fall by 66 percent since 2014 along with low oil prices contributed to the decline in production.

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Bloomberg cited data from the International Energy Agency, which showed the U.S.' total output in August was 12.2 million barrels a day which includes natural gas liquids. By comparison, Saudi Arabia produced 12.58 million barrels a day.

In fact, Saudi Arabia's oil production has averaged 10.36 million barrels a day from January through August of this year, nearly 200,000 barrels a day higher over the same time period a year ago.

However, all is not doom and gloom for the U.S. energy industry.

"In terms of economics, shale is very competitive with low break-even prices and the lowest payback years," Bloomberg quoted consultants Rystad Energy as saying in a note. "Shale will have the largest growth in investment over the next few years."