The United States will overtake Russia as the world”s biggest oil producer by 2019 at the latest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

U.S. crude oil output rose above 10 million barrels per day (bpd) late last year for the first time since the 1970s, overtaking top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at an event in Tokyo the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest crude oil producer “definitely next year”, if not this year, according to CNBC.

“U.S. shale growth is very strong, the pace is very strong … The United States will become the No.1 oil producer sometime very soon,” he told Reuters separately.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said early this month that U.S. output would exceed 11 million bpd by late 2018.

Meanwhile, U.S. net imports of crude oil fell last week by 1.6 million bpd to 4.98 million bpd, the lowest level since the EIA started recording the data in 2001, reflecting further erosion in a market OPEC has been relying on for decades.

Birol said production growth was not just strong in the United States.

“Canada, especially the oil sands, and Brazilian offshore projects. These are the two major (non-U.S.) drivers,” he said.

On the demand side, Birol said the IEA expected growth of around 1.4 million bpd in 2018.