[(Title)] U.S. soon to surpass Saudis, Russia as top oil producer.

The U.S. is on pace to leapfrog both Saudi Arabia and Russia and reclaim the title of the world's biggest oil producer for the first time since the 1970s.

美国正在加速超越沙特阿拉伯和俄罗斯，并从70年代以来首次重新获得全球最大的石油生产国的头衔。

The latest forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that U.S. output will grow next year to 11.8 million barrels a day.

美国能源情报局的最新预测显示，美国明年的石油日产量将增长到1,180万桶。

"If the forecast holds, that would make the U.S. the world's leading producer of crude," says Linda Capuano, who heads the agency, a part of the Energy Department.

该机构负责人琳达·卡普恩表示：“如果能够保持预期，美国将成为全球最大的原油生产商。”

Saudi Arabia and Russia could upend that forecast by boosting their own production.

沙特阿拉伯和俄罗斯可以提高自己的产量，从而打破这一预期。

In the face of rising global oil prices, members of the OPEC cartel and a few non-members including Russia agreed last month to ease production caps that had contributed to the run-up in prices.

面对全球油价的上升，欧佩克和包括俄罗斯在内的少数非成员国上月同意放松生产上限，因为这促成了价格上涨。

President Donald Trump has urged the Saudis to pump more oil to contain rising prices. He tweeted on June 30 that King Salman agreed to boost production "maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels."

唐纳德·特朗普(DonaldTrump)敦促沙特增产石油，以抑制价格上涨。他在6月30日发推文称，萨勒曼国王同意提高产量“可能高达2,000,000桶”。

The White House later clarified that the king said his country has a reserve of 2 million barrels a day that could be tapped "if and when necessary."

白宫后来澄清说，国王说他的国家储备200万桶每天，可以“在必要时”开采。

The idea that the U.S. could ever again become the world's top oil producer once seemed preposterous.

美国可能再次成为世界第一大石油生产国的想法一度显得荒谬可笑。

"A decade ago the only question was how fast would U.S. production go down," said Daniel Yergin, author of several books about the oil industry including a history, "The Prize." The rebound of U.S. output "has made a huge difference. If this had not happened, we would have had a severe shortage of world oil," he said.

“10年前，唯一的问题是，美国产量会迅速下降，”几本有关石油业的著作作者丹尼尔·耶金(DanielYergin)说。产量“造成了巨大的变化，如果做不到这一点，我们就会严重缺乏世界石油。”

The United States led the world in oil production for much of the 20th century, but the Soviet Union surpassed America in 1974, and Saudi Arabia did the same in 1976, according to Energy Department figures.

20世纪大部分时间里，美国在石油生产方面居世界前列，但根据能源部的数据，苏联在1974年超过了美国，沙特阿拉伯在1976年也超越了美国。

By the end of the 1970s the USSR was producing one-third more oil than the U.S.; by the end of the 1980s, Soviet output was nearly double that of the U.S.

到20世纪70年代末，苏联生产的石油比美国多出三分之一；到了80年代末，苏联的产量几乎是美国的两倍。

The last decade or so has seen a revolution in American energy production, however, led by techniques including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling.

然而，近十年来美国能源生产发生了革命，导致这种革命包括液压致裂法、液压致裂法和水平钻井等技术。

Those innovations — and the breakup of the Soviet Union — helped the U.S. narrow the gap. Last year, Russia produced more than 10.3 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia pumped just under 10 million, and the U.S. came in under 9.4 million barrels a day, according to U.S. government figures.

这些创新以及苏联解体使美国缩小了差距。根据美国政府的数据，去年，俄罗斯日产量超过1,030万桶，沙特阿拉伯日产量略低于1,000万桶，而美国日产量低于940万桶，

The U.S. has been pumping more than 10 million barrels a day on average since February, and probably pumped about 10.9 million barrels a day in June, up from 10.8 million in May, the energy agency said Tuesday in its latest short-term outlook.

美国能源机构星期二在其最近的短期前景中说，从2月份以来，平均每天抽油1,000多万桶，可能6月份的日产量约为1,090万桶，高于5月份的1,080万桶。

Capuano's agency forecast that U.S. crude output will average 10.8 million barrels a day for all of 2018 and 11.8 million barrels a day in 2019. The current U.S. record for a full year is 9.6 million barrels a day in 1970.

Capuano公司预测，美国2018年全年原油产量平均每天1,080万桶，2019年平均每天1,180万桶，美国目前的全年纪录为1970年的每天960万桶。

The trend of rising U.S. output prompted Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, to predict this spring that the U.S. would leapfrog Russia and become the world's largest producer by next year — if not sooner.

美国产出上升的趋势促使国际能源机构(InternationalEnergyAgency)执行董事法提赫?比罗尔(FatihBirol)预测，今年春天美国将超越俄罗斯，并在明年成为世界上最大的生产国。

One potential obstacle for U.S. drillers is a bottleneck of pipeline capacity to ship oil from the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico to ports and refineries.

美国钻探员的一个潜在障碍是，从得克萨斯州和新墨西哥二叠纪盆地到港口和炼油厂的输油管道能力存在瓶颈。

"They are growing the production but they can't get it out of the area fast enough because of pipeline constraints," said Jim Rittersbusch, a consultant to oil traders.

里特斯布斯奇表示：“由于输油管方面的限制，他们正在扩大产量，但他们无法迅速从该地区得到足够的产量。”

Some analysts believe that Permian production could decline, or at least grow more slowly, in 2019 or 2020 as energy companies move from their best acreage to more marginal areas.

一些分析家认为，随着能源公司从最佳面积转向更为边缘化的地区，二叠纪2019年或2020年的产量可能会下降，或者至少增长速度会放缓。