HOUSTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil production averaged 11.9 million barrels per day (b/d) during the week ending April 22, unchanged from the previous week, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.

       The figure rose by one million b/d over this time last year, according to the EIA.

       More than 80 percent of that U.S. crude oil production growth came from the country's Lower 48 states (L48), which does not include production from Alaska and the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico, said the report.

       The United States has been a major oil producer in the past years with the help of its shale oil production growth.