US is the largest oil, gas producer 'on face of the planet': Ryan Zinke

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Southern Ute Indian Tribe Councilman Adam Red on boosting U.S. oil production, drilling on the Ute Indian Tribe's land, deregulation and reforming regulations such as the Endangered Species Act.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Wednesday that the U.S. is on its way to producing 14 million barrels of oil per day very soon.

U.S. crude oil output in July hit 11 million barrels per day for the first time ever, the Energy Department said, driven by the rapid increase in shale drilling.

Even though the U.S. will face some regulatory and structural “hurdles” along the way, Zinke said, the production side is “well within its capability” to reach 14 million barrels per day by 2020.

“Who would have thought?” Zinke said to FOX Business’ Stuart Varney. “You look at the first day of the presidency, we were at 8.7 [million barrels per day] -- today we are the largest oil and gas producer on the face of the planet, rolling [out] 11.2 million barrels a day, on our way to 14.”

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after three consecutive days of gains ahead of a government report on U.S. crude inventories.