The number came out on June 30, and it is a real record. The Energy Information Administration reported that in April 2026, US crude oil field production hit 13.9 million barrels a day, the highest monthly figure in a data series that runs back to 1920. [1] American oil output has never been higher. That fact is impressive enough on its own, which is what makes it strange that the President keeps inflating it into something that is not true.
The claim, repeated at a May 2026 Cabinet meeting, is that the US produces "more oil, by double, than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined." [4][2] The record makes a good moment to check it against the numbers, because the numbers are not close.
What "combined" actually adds up to
Start with the two countries in the claim. In early 2026, Saudi Arabia produced about 9.4 million barrels of crude a day and Russia about 9.0 million, for a combined total near 18.4 million; PolitiFact, using the EIA's international series, puts the two at about 19.4 million. [2][3] Set the US record beside that. At 13.9 million barrels a day, the United States produces less crude than Russia and Saudi Arabia do together, not more, and certainly not double. [1][3]
Data
| US record (Apr 2026) | 13.9 mb/d |
|---|---|
| Russia + Saudi (crude) | 19.4 mb/d |
| What double would require | 38.8 mb/d |
Where the claim comes from, and why it still fails
There is one way to make the US number bigger, and it is worth being honest about it. If you stop counting crude alone and add in natural gas liquids, other liquids, and a processing gain that refineries produce, the US total rises to about 23.6 million barrels a day, which does edge past the 21.7 million you get doing the same for Russia and Saudi Arabia. [3] Even then, though, that is roughly parity, not double, and most of those added barrels are byproducts, not the crude that gets refined into the gasoline in your tank. [3] By the measure that matters for a car, crude, the US is behind the two combined.
The bottom line
America is the largest crude producer on earth and just set a record; that is real, and it needs no exaggeration. "By double" is the exaggeration. To be true, the US would have to pump nearly 39 million barrels a day, almost triple its actual record. [1] The honest version of this brag is still a brag. The President keeps reaching for a number that his own government's data will not give him.
