The heart of the story is the Permian Basin, North America’s most prolific shale oil patch. It has been “producing for over 100 years and left for dead two or three times,” as Diamondback Energy’s CEO Kaes Van’t Hof notes, yet today the Permian alone yields over 6 million barrels per day – more than any country except the U.S. and Russia foxbusiness.com. Chevron’s Mike Wirth points out U.S. oil output now exceeds that of Saudi Arabia and Russia combined foxbusiness.com. Under the Trump administration’s energy policies, drilling and pipeline projects in the Permian have accelerated. Maria Bartiromo’s recent tour of Midland, TX, highlighted that Permian oil now supplies roughly 40% of U.S. production foxbusiness.com, a share slated to rise sharply.