U.S. oil producers ramped up output last week even as near- and long-term demand grew increasingly uncertain amid recession fears and a new push to shift American drivers to electric-powered cars and trucks.

Domestic exploration and production (E&P) firms generated 12.3 million b/d of oil for the week ended April 7, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Wednesday. That was up 100,000 b/d from the previous week and matched the high point of 2023 and the pandemic-era peak.

The latest results marked a notable increase from the year-earlier level of 11.8 million b/d. E&Ps reached a record 13.1 million b/d in March of 2020, just prior to the pandemic’s onset in the United States.

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