The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the U.S. to challenge Saudi Arabia’s position as the world’s leading oil exporter, after briefly overtaking the OPEC kingpin to claim the number one spot earlier this year.

“Booming shale production has allowed the U.S. to close in on, and briefly overtake, Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil exporter. The installation of the necessary pipelines and terminals is continuing apace, which will ensure that the trend continues,” the IEA said in its closely-watched monthly report on Thursday.

The U.S. momentarily surpassed Saudi Arabia as the leading oil exporter in June, after crude exports surged above 3 million barrels per day (b/d), the IEA said. That lifted total exports of crude and products to nearly 9 million b/d. At the same time, Saudi Arabia cut back on both crude and refined product exports.

The IEA left its oil demand growth forecasts for oil demand growth unchanged at 1.1 million b/d for 2019, and 1.3 million b/d in 2020. It based these projections on the assumption that there would be no further deterioration in the economic climate and in trade disputes.