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The U.S. overtook Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of oil as extraction of energy from shale rock strengthens the nation’s economy, Bank of America Corp. said.

U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries in the first six months, the bank said in a report Friday. The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2010. A Commerce Department decision to allow the overseas shipment of processed light oil called condensate has fanned speculation the nation may ease its four-decade ban on most crude exports.

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Low energy prices are a key edge of the U.S. economy

“America is now the world’s leading producer of oil and gas,” Francisco Blanch, the bank’s head of commodities research in New York, said in the report. “The American shale revolution has had a transformational effect on the U.S. and global economies in recent years. Low energy prices are a key edge of the U.S. economy.”