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Smith writes: "With one quick drop in the price of oil, the shale oil boom is officially bust."

Sixty-one oil drilling operations closed up in just one week, with another 400 to follow by spring. (photo: Inthinc.com)
Sixty-one oil drilling operations closed up in just one week, with another 400 to follow by spring. (photo: Inthinc.com)


Turns Out the US Oil Boom Was Just a Fairy Tale

By Heather Smith, Grist

16 January 15

 

ith one quick drop in the price of oil, the shale oil boom is officially bust. In less than a week, 61 oil rigs across the United States closed up shop, according to the most recent rig count from Baker Hughes. The U.S. has 1,750 oil rigs still hunting for new oil wells, but that number is expected to fall by another 400 rigs by the time spring rolls around.

The whole episode is a wake-up call about just how much of a fairy tale North America�s oil boom really was. It was a fairy tale with real drills, sure � and since it was exempt from the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, it will continue to have real consequences for the people living near it. But when it costs Saudi Arabia $10 to get a barrel of oil and it costs shale oil operations around $65 to make that same barrel, it should have been obvious that America was only a titan of oil production because another country was letting us be.

The U.S. got the excitement of overtaking Saudi Arabia and becoming the biggest producer of oil in the world for a few months this summer. Then Saudi Arabia did what it always had the power to do and raised its oil output so that prices fell.

�Those who are producing the most expensive oil � the rationale and the rules of the market say that they should be the first to pull or reduce their production,� Suhail Al Mazrouei, oil minister for the United Arab Emirates, told reporters recently, sounding more than a little like an Econ 101 professor. �If the price is right for them to produce, then fine, let them produce.�

That price � which was $110 per barrel this summer, and $80 three months ago � is now hovering at $46. Goldman Sachs estimates that it will drop to $40 in a few months, since it will take a while for production to slow down and adjust to the new pricing. the United States has cut 10 percent of its oil exploration, and Canada has cut back 25 percent

Since late November, the United States has cut 10 percent of its oil exploration, and Canada has cut back 25 percent. If this continues, expect the oil boom towns of Alberta, Texas, North Dakota, and Colorado to start looking more like ghost towns.

When are prices likely to rise again? Goldman Sachs estimates they�ll begin rebounding at the end of 2015. Others warn that the situation could be more like the oil price drop of 1986, which lasted about five years.

All of which means that TransCanada may well find itself delighted that protesters stopped it from building a big, expensive pipeline to get now-unprofitable tar-sands oil to market. I wouldn�t count on that one, though.

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-13 # Rodion Raskolnikov 2017-12-15 10:20
Chicken Little

Chicken Little
Stood around
Underneath a tree.
Something fell and
Hit her head.
She said, "Goodness me!"

"Oh my goodness!"
She did screech.
"The sky is falling!"
She ran around
Yelling out,
"We must tell the king!"

Goosey Loosey
Was the first
To hear Chicken's tale.
I think they both
Must have been
Drinking too much ale.

Goosey Loosey,
Chicken, too,
Saw Ducky Lucky.
They told him, and
Then he said,
"That is quite sucky."


I'm just tired of the "sky is falling" kind of journalism when it comes to the republican party. It is not. The republicans are indeed divided but they know how to come together when they needs. Sadly, the same cannot be said for democrats, whose divisions are really driving the party into national political irrelevance. OK, the republican lost in Alabama, but the was a terrible candidate who'd lost twice for governor and was removed from the supreme court.

The republican party is not the party of Trump. It is the party of big money and of winning. It will use whatever wedge issues it needs to win. And it has mearly perfect the techniques to voter suppression and vote rigging.

The Trump-Gillibran d spat is something both want. Before this most people never heard of Gillibrand. And Trump get to be seen as standing up to a liberal.
 
 
+15 # Wally Jasper 2017-12-15 12:50
I agree, Rodion. Don't know why you're getting negatives. Americans across the board are tired of establishment politics driven by the billionaire class and their corporate greed. Frank Rich doesn't even want to mention the divide within the Democratic Party, as he is equally adverse to a true progressive as he is to the alt-right end of the spectrum. Corporate Dems. will not offer the fix that is needed in our country, no matter that they are way more appealing than the scummy gang of thieves now in charge of government. By the way, if you missed it, take a look at Jeremy Corbyn's fine speech to the UN Conference in Geneva that was carried by RSN. This is where the global majority wants to go.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/47306-time-for-a-fundamental-break-with-the-world-order
 
 
+9 # Rodion Raskolnikov 2017-12-16 08:13
Yes I read the Corbyn speech. It was excellent. This is the direction that the Demo party needs to take. But it is not. It is purging members who hold these views and solidifying the control of the corporate faction. These Demos seem content to be the junior party to Republicans in the oligarchic control of the US government.
 
 
+5 # vicnada 2017-12-16 09:57
 
 
+1 # vicnada 2017-12-16 10:53
Jeremy Corbyn's is the speech for Advent 2017. Thanks for posting.
 
 
+9 # RMF 2017-12-15 13:50
Your apology for the GOP, whether intendced or not I cannot say, does not in any way change the metrics outlined above by Mr. Rich -- that is, Trump remains 85 percent popular with GOP voters, but the GOP party itself only commands about a 30+ percent favorable rating among all voters.

In contrast the Dems, rather than being divided as you claim, appear to be presenting a united political alternative to Trumpism, and in this respect is the direct and forceful opposite of sliding into "national political irrelevance" as you maintain.

Indeed, the Dems defining opposition to sex harassment will energize women voters from the independent group, as well as chip away at the 15 percent or so of GOP voters who still seem to have a brain.

In short, the GOP has made such a mess for their own party's outlook that all the Dems need do is avoid any big mistakes -- the rest of the work and all the heavy lifting has been done by the GOP on behalf of the Dems.
 
 
+12 # Rodion Raskolnikov 2017-12-16 08:20
RMF -- I definitely don't intend an apology for the GOP. Sorry it sounds that way. I'm just tired of so-called liberals telling us that Trump or the republicans are on the brink of collapse. They have been doing this now for nearly 2 years and the republicans or Trump is not collapsing.

Why not talk about the 1000 elected offices that democrats have lost to republicans just since Obama took office. Here's a map showing how much of the nation is controlled by republicans:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/14/1598918/-Republicans-now-dominate-state-government-with-32-legislatures-and-33-governors


An honest assessment shows the democratic party in collapse. This is what I care about. The republican party is the party of big business and banks. In the 1980s, the Democratic Leadership Council decided that if the Democratic party could also become the party of big business and banks, it would begin to win elections again. It has only lost steadily.

If the Democratic party were an honest progressive or democratic socialist party and gave up its support for war, the CIA, and the like, it would easily be the majority party in the US.

That's what I care about. You can't change the democratic party by telling people the republicans are about to collapse. That is as much as to tell democrats that they don't need to change. They are fine.
 
 
0 # Depressionborn 2017-12-19 04:20
yep a Trump action plan for good old USA!

"The strategy repudiates many of the security and foreign policies of the former President Barack Obama who sought to subordinate American power and influence in seeking greater comity with foreign states and international organizations.

The strategy reflects many of Trump's presidential campaign statements and promises that brought him to power, such as the need for tighter immigration controls, including a border wall, adopting trade policies more directly favorable to U.S. interests, increasing defense spending, and for the first time since the end of the Cold War, aggressively promoting American ideals such as liberty, constitutional democracy, and free trade."
 
 
-3 # gdsharpe 2017-12-15 13:59
"mearly"?
 
 
+11 # futhark 2017-12-15 21:03
The Republican Party is doomed by demographics. Their policies insult and assault younger voters, people who have no first-hand memories of when America was "great", leading the world in military power and in being able to bully and exploit other nations without fear of blow back. The rising generation wants a society in which one doesn't have to live in fear of poor health, massive student loan debt, or a degraded natural environment. The Republicans seem to want to turn the clock back to the days of President "Silent Cal" Coolidge in the 1920s, when prosperity was being delivered by an overvalued stock market and unregulated corporate greed. Pick up any U.S. history textbook to discover the result.

I've worked with adolescents as a high school teacher for almost 40 years and am confident that, while they may do foolish things occasionally, they are not so dumb as to sacrifice their futures to the stupidity of the Cheeto Mussolini.

We are looking to the Democrats to produce a sensible alternative that inspires hope and action. Defending and extending the New Deal looks to me the next step forward.
 
 
+1 # DongiC 2017-12-17 13:01
I heartily agree with your position and, I too, taught high school students for almost 40 years. Today's kids are not so dumb as to tie their future to the true deplorables in our society - the GOP.
 
 
+2 # kyzipster 2017-12-16 09:53
If the Republican Party is not the party of Trump, how do you account for 86% approval within the party? I understand what you're saying about the GOP establishment, reflected in Trump's agenda, but his white supremacy and the rest of his 'populism' very much reflects the GOP base.

I think the article is one of the best analysis of where we find ourselves that I've seen. A realistic take on strengths and weaknesses of both sides. I think the midterms will be devastating for Republicans but as the article points out, Democrats could still screw it up.

Trump is the biggest motivator of Republican opposition I've seen. Once he's gone, Republicans will regain their strength unless Democrats do something to move in a progressive direction, I don't see that happening.

Living in the south, I've always been mystified by Republicans strength here. Huge percentages of African Americans, a growing immigrant population. Parts of my city are beginning to look like California when I lived there, very diverse. Almost every urban area votes 'blue', reflecting a decent percentage of white liberals.

Virginia and Alabama revealed that there are enough more liberal voters but they don't vote normally. We can rightfully blame Democrats but I think we can rightfully blame voters also. If we did put Democrats in office, we could challenge the establishment in the primaries with progressive candidates. That's what the Tea Party has done, that's how Trump won the nomination.
 
 
-9 # Enoch E Birch 2017-12-15 11:31
So even Pence is preferable?
 
 
+6 # Jim Young 2017-12-15 13:32
Looking back, I would have preferred impeachment investigations of G.W. Bush, whether they removed him from office or not.

I think most feared Cheney as much as many now fear Pence, but that can not be allowed to prevent real investigation (actually impeachment like all the previous ones that did not result in direct removal from office, just one resignation).

"People have to know whether or not their President is a Crook." ~ Richard Nixon ~

The impeachments did force major changes in behavior.

Even though they did not result in the conviction (and removal directed by the Senate) of Andrew Johnson, Nixon (who technically admitted guilt with the Pardon he accepted after resigning), nor Bill Clinton, they did very much to change future behavior of (only elected as Vice President succeeding Lincoln when he was assassinated)An drew Johnson in particular, and many others under Presidents who's certain behaviors they could not risk legal consequences or moral dilemmas in continuing to serve while meeting their oaths.

There is a credible case to be made for removal for impaired Mental Health, too (which in cases like Woodrow Wilson, and perhaps Warren Harding, could apply under Mental or Physical Health limitations for however long required).
 
 
+1 # kyzipster 2017-12-16 13:18
I heard a really good argument by a conservative Constitutional scholar that at the very minimum, Bush/Cheney should have been censured. It sounds like a wimpy compromise but he made a good case for it. A way to hold them accountable if Congress was unwilling to impeach, the main outcome would have been a thorough investigation of criminality. I left the Democratic Party in those years, refusing to even hold hearings. A few Dems did it, they were put in a room in a basement, only broadcast on Cspan.
 
 
+9 # elizabethblock 2017-12-15 14:52
Trump won't resign unless he can frame it as a victory. He never loses, after all.
And no, I do NOT want President Pence! He would be able to do all the horrible stuff that Trump has been unable to. He looks respectable, and the country would be so relieved that we would give him free rein.
 
 
+12 # Farafalla 2017-12-15 16:28
" It remains essential that NBC and the producer Mark Burnett release any evidence of Trump criminality contained in videos or files from The Apprentice."

Yes, his tirades against black people, his utter contempt for women. Had NBC released just a tiny bit of the outtakes at the Apprentice, Trump would not be president right now.
 
 
+1 # ReconFire 2017-12-17 11:56
Agree, NBC is not going to cook their golden goose, he's too good for ratings and their wallets.
 
 
+18 # GeorgePenman 2017-12-15 19:10
Republicans are not doing what people want, nor are they doing anything to fix our problems.

Instead they are attempting to pass large tax cuts for their donors, They pay for it by running up the deficit and extracting
wealth from the underclass. They have no problem removing millions from
health insurance, but say thy are 'pro-life'.

As they run up debt, they will work to cut back Social Security, Medicare, and other programs that vulnerable depend on.

Because their agenda is unpopular they need to suppress voters, gerrymander, and in a variety of ways suppress democracy.

They deserve to lose big time.

http://gopiswrong.com/democracy.htm
 
 
+3 # futhark 2017-12-15 20:46
"...his (President Trump's) diet of junk food and Diet Coke."

Is the president getting ready for a twinkie defense if he is ever held accountable for ordering an irresponsible military action, such as starting a nuclear war?
 
 
+1 # ReconFire 2017-12-17 11:59
Who will hold him accountable after a nuclear war, we will all be gone?
 
 
+1 # LionMousePudding 2017-12-18 02:20
The Twinkies will undoubtedly survive
 
 
+1 # chapdrum 2017-12-16 19:46
The GOP is not "about to tumble" anywhere, to the lasting regret of every sane person in the country.
 
 
0 # Depressionborn 2017-12-17 19:57
Trump is anti-establishm ent, both parties are re pleat with Globalist profiteers and anti
constitution.

" President Trump is just a man that believes in the majority of U.S. constitutional issues, common sense issues, U.S. sovereignty, real authentic science, a strong growing U.S. economy and America exceptionalism, but to many Americans and Western leaders Trump is the devil and the anti Christ who is a super threat to all secular globalist aspirations and a threat to global elitist and their power grab for a global tyrannical rule."

follow the money and expect war.
 

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