U.S. gas and oil industry annual revenue 2010-2018

In 2018, the total revenue of the United States’ oil and gas industry came to about 181 billion U.S. dollars, a substantial increase since the lowest point of the decade in 2016. Revenue peaked in 2014 after several years of significant growth before dropping by almost 90 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

The advent of shale

Following the financial crisis, investors sought to increase domestic production and reduce dependence on foreign oil and gas in turbulent international markets. Despite high start-up costs, shale gas and tight oil became economically viable to extract as the result of new methods such as hydraulic fracturing. Production expanded rapidly in states with large permeable rock formations of sandstone, such as Texas and North Dakota.

Surplus and instability

The United States’ production of shale gas and tight oil has continued to grow uninhibitedly since 2008, leading to an oversupply by 2014. During the 2010s oil glut, output and revenue decreased as petroleum prices were destabilized worldwide. The trajectory of the gross output in the United States' oil and gas extraction industry largely precipitates the changes in total revenue, both reaching a high point in 2014 before a drastic fall the following year.