U.S. crude oil exports have increased in recent weeks, according to commodity analytics firm Kpler, as America leads supply increases amid stable and persistent global demand.

Crude oil exports from the United States averaged 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, the highest monthly output since February 2020, shortly before the pandemic decimated global oil consumption.

According to Smith, U.S. crude oil exports have surged in January and are close to averaging 3 million barrels per day.

A lead oil analyst for America at Kpler, Matt Smith, told Reuters: “Everyone is seeing really strong demand growth numbers for this year, and when you look at where supply growth is coming through from, the U.S. is a leader there.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced last week that global oil consumption defied pessimistic projections from a month ago to withstand the Omicron wave with far less interruption than expected, improving its demand growth estimates by 200,000 bpd for both 2021 and 2022.

The IEA said in its Oil Market Report (OMR) for January that demand climbed by 1.1 million barrels per day to 99 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2021, defying expectations of a significant drop in consumption due to the Omicron wave. As a result, the IEA increased its global demand forecasts, currently projecting 5.5 million bpd growth last year and 3.3 million bpd growth this year.