America now produces more crude oil than any other country

The United States has surpassed Russia as the world's top producer of crude oil, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

In August, America produced more than 11.3 million barrels of oil per day, beating the July record of 10.9 barrels, reports The Associated Press. That was enough to inch past Russia's daily production of 11.2 million barrels a day in the same time frame. The U.S. hasn't been the top producer of oil in the world since 1973.

In fact, Reuters reports that America's oil production is rising at a record rate, up 25 percent, or more than two million barrels a day, compared to a year ago. That's the fastest increase the U.S. has seen in six decades, and oil prices are now the lowest they've been since April, The Wall Street Journal reports. Production from shale fields, in particular, has gone way up, increasing by 1.9 million barrels a day in the past year, per Reuters. Just behind the United States and Russia in oil production is Saudi Arabia, which in August produced 10.4 million barrels per day.

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Bloomberg reports, however, that Russia may soon overtake the U.S. once again, as it produced 11.37 million barrels per day in September and possibly over 11.4 million in October. The U.S. has not yet reported its fall production numbers.