The IEA believes that the level of these reserves will result in the US accounting for a third of new oil supplies, thus transforming it from the world's leading importer of oil into a net exporter.
"North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.
In its bi-annual report examining the trends in oil supply and demand, the IEA also said it expects the US to overtake Russia as the world's biggest gas producer by 2015 and to become "all but self-sufficient" in its energy needs by about 2035.
US production is set to grow by 3.9 million barrels of oil per day from 2012 to 2018, accounting for some two thirds of the predicted growth in traditional non-Opec production, according to the IEA. Meanwhile, the report states that global oil demand will increase by eight percent during this time period, a figure that would be met by mainly non-Opec supplies. The IEA was keen to stress that it still expects production capacity by traditional Opec suppliers in the Middle East to continue to grow over the next five years, albeit at a slower rate.
