While Texas has long been known for its extraordinary oil and natural gas production, this week marked a historic achievement for Texas energy. According to a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Lone Star state is now producing 36 percent of America’s oil – rivaling some of OPEC’s largest oil suppliers. From the EIA:

“Texas production topped 3.0 million bbl/d for the first time since the late 1970s, more than doubling production in the past three years, and North Dakota production broke 1.0 million bbl/d for the first time in history, nearly tripling its production over the same period… Gains in Texas crude oil production come primarily from counties that contain unconventional tight oil and shale reservoirs in the Eagle Ford Shale in the Western Gulf Basin, where drilling has increasingly targeted oil-rich areas, and multiple reservoirs within the Permian Basin in West Texas that have seen a significant increase in horizontal, oil-directed drilling.”

Thanks to this tremendous production from Texas oil plays, the state is now toe to toe in production levels with Iraq, one of OPEC largest oil producers. As the Houston Chronicle describes:

“Nearly as much crude flowed from Texas as from Iraq, which was the second largest OPEC producer in April at 3.2 million barrels per day, according to estimates from Bloomberg. The news agency estimates that Iraq’s production fell to 2.9 million barrels in June amid insurgent violence, which would drop it below Texas oil if the state’s supply continued to rise as it did every month since 2011.”

As Texas leads the United States and the globe in energy production, states outside of Texas are also experiencing tremendous growth. In North Dakota, oil production has tripled in the last three years while the state experiences record low unemployment levels. Meanwhile, natural gas production continues to soar across the United States, reaching a record of 68.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) output per day in March 2014 – creating new jobs and supporting the American economy and our national security along the way. That’s some news worth celebrating.