The Hill reports that a global energy chief foresees the United States becoming the “undisputed leader” in oil and gas production for “years to come.”

Fatih Birol, executive director for the International Energy Agency (IEA), made the comments while speaking at an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16.

While rolling out the IEA’s World Energy Outlook for 2017, The Hill quotes Fatah saying: “With all the implications, this is the most important transformation we’re seeing within the oil and gas industry…The U.S. is becoming the undisputed leader of oil and gas production worldwide.”

Fatah projected that the U.S. would be the largest exporter of natural gas by 2020.