Crude oil producing countries: The full global ranking

Oil production data varies more than people expect, not because sources disagree on the facts, but because “oil production” is measured in more than one way. This article explains that distinction first, then gives the complete global ranking of oil producing countries using the most recent verified data available, sourced to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the agency that compiles the standard international dataset used by governments, banks, and energy analysts worldwide [1].

Why two rankings exist for the same year

There are two commonly used measures of “oil production,” and mixing them up is the single biggest source of confusion in online rankings.

Crude oil including lease condensate is the narrower, more traditional measure. It counts only crude oil pumped from the ground plus the light liquid hydrocarbons that separate out alongside it at the wellhead [2]. On this measure, the United States produced an average of 13.586 million barrels per day in 2025, with Russia second at 9.885 million and Saudi Arabia third at 9.556 million [2, 3].

Total petroleum and other liquids is the broader measure. It adds natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, refinery processing gain, and other liquid fuels on top of crude oil [2]. On this wider measure, the United States produced roughly 23.6 million barrels per day in 2025, which is the figure most often quoted in general news coverage because it captures the full scale of a country’s liquid fuel output, not just raw crude extraction [2, 4].

Both figures are accurate. They simply answer different questions. The ranking below uses the broader total petroleum and other liquids measure because it is the only metric with consistent, comparably reported data across the full range of producing countries, all sourced from the EIA’s International Energy Statistics database [1, 4].

Top 10 producers by strict crude oil output (2025)

For readers specifically interested in crude oil in the narrowest sense, meaning oil pumped directly from wells plus lease condensate, here is the top 10 using EIA’s 2025 annual average data [2, 3, 5].

These 10 countries together account for roughly 72 percent of the world’s crude oil output on this measure [3]. Five of them, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the UAE, and Kuwait, sit along the Persian Gulf and remain founding members of OPEC, giving the region continued outsized influence over global supply and pricing [3].

The full global ranking, all producing countries (2025)

This is the complete list of countries with reported oil production, ranked by total petroleum and other liquids output for 2025, as compiled from EIA International Energy Statistics [1, 4]. Figures are in barrels per day.

A number of countries, including Afghanistan, Iceland, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and several small island states, either have no meaningful oil production or lack recent verified data and are excluded from the ranking above rather than assumed to be zero [4].

A note on reserves versus production

Production rank and reserve size are not the same thing, and conflating the two is a common source of misinformation. Venezuela, for example, holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves at over 303 billion barrels, roughly 19 percent of the global total, yet it does not rank among the top 10 producers because sanctions, underinvestment, and infrastructure decline have limited how much of that reserve it can actually extract [3]. Reserve size reflects what is geologically recoverable; production reflects what a country is actually pumping, refining, and exporting in a given year, and the two can diverge sharply for political, economic, or technical reasons [3].

Disclaimer

Oil production figures are revised regularly as countries submit updated data, and OPEC+ quota decisions, sanctions, conflicts, and new field developments can shift national output within months. The figures above reflect 2025 annual averages, the latest full-year data available at the time of writing. For the most current monthly figures, consult the EIA’s International Energy Statistics database directly. If you notice any inaccuracy in this article or have a correction to suggest, please contact us so we can review and update it.

References

[1] International Energy Statistics, U.S. Energy Information Administration
[2] Top 10 oil-producing countries in 2026: Production, reserves and data analysis, DevelopmentAid
[3] Ranked: The Top Crude Oil Producers in 2025, Visual Capitalist
[4] Oil Production by Country, Worldometer, based on EIA International Energy Statistics
[5] Top 10 Crude Oil Producing Countries 2026, EIA 2025 data compilation, StatRanker