EIA data show that the United States exported 90 kbpd more total crude oil and petroleum products in September 2019 than it imported. This is the first month recorded in U.S. data that the United States exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported. U.S. imports and exports records of crude oil and petroleum products started on an annual basis in 1949 and on a monthly basis in 1973. EIA expects total crude oil and petroleum net exports to average 570 kbpd in 2020 compared with average net imports of 490 kbpd in 2019. EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to average 13.2 mbpd in 2020, an increase of 0.9 mbpd from the 2019 level. Expected 2020 growth is slower than 2018 growth of 1.6 mbpd and 2019 growth of 1.3 mbpd. Slowing crude oil production growth results from a decline in drilling rigs over the past year that EIA expects to continue into 2020. Despite the decline in rigs, EIA forecasts production will continue to grow as rig efficiency and well-level productivity rises, offsetting the decline in the number of rigs.