Edward L. Doheny prices were high. The Mexican Petroleum Company was the largest in Mexico, and Mexico was the largest oil producer in the world. In 1922 Albert B. Fall, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, leased the oil field at Elk Hills, California, to the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company. Around the same time, the Teapot Dome Field in Wyoming was leased to Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation. Both oilfields were part of the US Navy's petroleum reserves. Neither lease was subject to competitive bidding. In 1924 rumors about corruption in the deals escalated into the Teapot Dome scandal. Doheny's reputation was somewhat
Oil reserves in the United States Prudhoe Bay field was found in Alaska. United States crude oil production declined since reaching a smaller secondary production peak in 1988 (caused by Alaskan production), but increased again from 2009 to 2015. Total production of crude oil from 1970 through 2006 was , or roughly five and a half times the decline in proved reserves. Since the oil price peaked about US$147.50 in summer 2008 many projects have been brought online, and domestic production increased from 2009 to 2015. It takes a few years to develop an oil field. In 2012 the oil production of the USA increased by