America's ascendancy to the top spot marks a stunning reversal for a country that was dependent on West Asian oil for decades and suffered from an oil embargo imposed by some OPEC members in 1973 to retaliate against US support for Israel. US fortunes began to change after 2010, when oil and gas output from its shale formations soared, first making it the world's top gas and then the world's top oil producer.

The U.S. has emerged as the world's largest oil exporter, upending a decades-old order long dominated by Saudi Arabia and Russia, marking a major...

America's ascendancy to the top spot marks a stunning reversal for a country that was dependent on West Asian oil for decades and suffered from an oil embargo imposed by some OPEC…