Quote:
Originally Posted by thickstunalex
I remember when I had my Pontiac GTO and filled the tank with 93 at $4/gal. I rang up $70 at the pump. The GTO was also my daily driver, and I drove a lot.
Flash forward to now, and we have much more domestic production to offset crazy-high fluctuations. My 2SS is much more fuel efficient than the GTO, and adds 55 extra hps.
Cheap oil was nice on our pockets, but the whole premise behind it was OPEC wanted to kill of the new shale market in the US. They wanted to see us out of business so they could gain back control of the oil market. They failed...
It hurt 3rd worlds nations the hardest, and ruined Russia's economy who's government is 70% vested in oil profits. All the while OPEC was watching to find out just how resilient American domestic production was. Some jobs were lost and production cut, but none of the companies folded under. Oh, and Americans are depending less and less on fossil fuels each year. Automobiles across the line are getting more fuel efficient. We have a greater energy production portfolio of natural gas, wind, and solar now.
OPEC can no longer control the world oil market like they did in the 1970's. We should actually be rejoicing!
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Actually many of the independents (Stone Energy, The Superior, etc.) did go out of business. This also includes many of the service companies. The point of profitability for fracking and heavy oil (FRASH process) production is much higher (~$100 per barrel or more -- sand tars ~$140 per barrel). Terrebone Parish has ~20% unemployment. Other Parishes are in the ~15%-18% unemployment.
Just to be clear, Saudi is producing more natural gas. The Kingdom used to just flare off the gas as being too much trouble to fool with. Their focus has been conversion of their country to use natural gas as their main, cleaner power source. The gas reserves actually are deeper than their oil reserves. They are using it for electricity and desalination. They are still actively drilling for oil, as well. A single well in Saudi produces some 60,000 barrels of oil per day. Most domestic wells produce a few hundred per day. Stripper wells produce much less.