This if even remotely accurate will send chills through the middle east. OPEC is losing if not already lost its lock on pricing in the market.
With the emergence of “tight oil and gas” in the States, the sands of Canada, the African plays and major discoveries in Norway and Brazil, the biggest problem for the market is maintaining prices high enough to make it worthwhile to go after the oil.
Not in the near future. It is the cost of production that gives the lead to OPEC. While figures vary by oil field and country, the costs in the Middle East range from 10-50% of the costs in other areas of the world. When you add in the overhead that the governments and environmentalists add here in the West, you get an even higher search-to-production cost.
Wonder if we can ship some of these Sierra Club, World Wildlife and Earth First types to Russia and the OPEC countries? I'm sure that there would be mutual admiration and respect. /sarc