Russia has faked it's own death before, too.
I should add “imho” to my previous. And that I think the nominal premise is interesting. But to complete the picture, iinm, a severe credit crunch would have to follow, and I don’t see that happening. imho.
Nope.
It really is OPEC keeping the price per barrel down. They've got enough riches, oil reserves, infrastructure, and staying power, to outlast a staring contest with the fracking boom in the West.
The OPEC nations need us as customers. They would rather lose billions of petro-dollars in the short term, and have us cave into them in the long term. It's why they're willing to drive the price of crude oil so low, that it will be more feasible for us to buy from them, rather than drill our own oil.
It's a matter of control and power.
bttt