The U.S. exported a record amount of crude oil in November after a five-year run of production growth that has made the country the most oil-independent in 20 years. Shipments surged 34 percent to average 502,000 barrels a day in November, the highest on record dating back to 1920, surpassing the previous monthly peak of 455,000 barrels set in March 1957, data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Energy Information Administration show. The U.S. is now the 17th-largest exporter. The export record was unthinkable just five years ago, when U.S. crude production was still near a nadir following a 25-year decline. Since then, producers using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in underground shale rock have boosted output by 66 percent. Lawmakers in Washington are trying to end a 40-year-old law that restricts crude exports to just a few markets. “This is something we never expected to see,” said […]