According to numbers released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) this week, crude oil production in the United States increased more in 2014 than it has in the last 100 years. Crude oil production rose by a whopping 1.2 million barrels per day, and reached 8.7 million barrels per day.

When one looks at the growth of production in 2014 in terms of percentage, the numbers are equally as remarkable. The percentage increase in production in 2014 was 16.2 percent, which is the highest jump the U.S. has seen in over 60 years. This is impressive, especially when one considers that the end of the year brought in industry uncertainty and low prices.

The EIA attributes the majority of this growth to shale formations in Texas, North Dakota, and New Mexico, where hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling are used for crude oil production. Texas topped the list as the highest producing state in 2014, producing 1.1 million barrels per day. That means that in 2014, Texas produced over 12 percent of the nation’s oil.

The above chart demonstrates how large the crude oil gains have been in the Lone Star State over the last five years. Texas has long been a major player in America’s crude game, and 2014 did not disappoint. According to the EIA, Texas crude oil production rose by nearly 25 percent, or 230,129 barrels. These astronomical numbers have also brought astronomical benefits to the state of Texas.  According to Texas Oil & Gas Association President, Todd Staples:

“In 2014, the Texas oil and natural gas industry paid a record $15.7 billion in state and local taxes and royalties, the highest such collection from the oil and gas industry in Texas history […]The oil and natural gas industry directly employed 418,000 Texans, with indirect economic gains resulting in another 1.8 million Texas jobs in supporting industries and sectors. More than 2.2 million Texans have a job that’s a result of oil and gas activity in our state.”

Similar economic benefits were felt all over the country in 2014, thanks to American crude oil producers. The production growth of 2014 created more jobs, funded more tax dollars, and helped to secure America’s energy future at a pace that was unlike any other year the industry has seen.

Despite the price drop of late, the EIA still predicts that crude oil in the United States will rise again in 2015. By the end of this year, the EIA expects the nation to be producing 9.35 million barrels of crude per day.

The estimates from EIA are a welcome rebuttal to alarmist headlines like “In West Texas oil boomtowns, ‘the end is near‘” or “We Just Got Some Ugly Numbers out of Texas: Is the oil crash starting to hurt?”, which purport that the sky is falling in Texas because of the price decline. In addition to EIA data, the latest data from the Railroad Commission clearly show that Texas crude production in January 2015 was up from January 2014. So, it appears that the sky is still hanging strong and the United States will continue to grow its crude production, with Texas leading the way.