“Oil import quotas will reduce the incentive to lower costs while raising the cost of oil products. It will slow the development of cheaper ways to extract oil and gas and benefit the Sauds more than anyone else.”
Maybe, but continued predatory pricing by the OPEC cartel will put US oil producers out of business and make us, once again, under the jackboot of muslim nutcases.
“The American oil industry, which has in the last 10 years created the technology of oil self-sufficiency, will survive without the smaller independent company pioneers in shale and their future risk-taking in finding oil...”
It’s those smaller independent pioneers who have brought us to self-sufficiency. Big Oil says, “Who needs ‘em? And what’s all this I hear about free markets?”
It will not put American oil out of business. American costs are coming down pretty rapidly. There is a shakeup and a reorganization in the oil business as the weaker companies get taken over by the stronger ones. The “break-even” cost for fracking has come down from $60 or so and is close to $40 now. The Saudi keeping the price low by ramping up production is insuring that the ceiling in the world markets is declining continually. That is called “the market” and it works better when not hindered by government actions including “protection” of any kind. As soon as we begin to protect by tariffs or quotas we put a floor on the price of oil and disincentivize American oil from continuing to reduce costs.