The U.S. has long been seen as an energy hog. Thanks to hydraulic fracturing and deep water technology, it is now pumping more oil than it has in more than a decade, and its growing status as a crude producer is taking the world by storm.

In a conversation with The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Yergin, the energy industry's most prominent chronicler, talks about the American oil renaissance and its profound implications for the U.S. in a changing world. Mr. Yergin, currently vice chairman of IHS, a consulting firm in Englewood, Colo., is the author of "The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World." His history of the oil industry, "The Prize," earned a Pulitzer Prize.

Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Energy Boom

WSJ: The U.S. is experiencing an unprecedented boom in oil production. How did this happen? Where is it taking us?

MR. YERGIN: The last time we had a presidential election, the U.S. was going to run out of oil. Since then, U.S. oil production has grown about 25%. As has happened in the past, technology has opened doors people didn't know were there or didn't think could be opened.