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How America Broke OPEC
WSJ ^ | 15 Dec 2018 | The Editorial Board

Posted on 12/15/2018 10:35:09 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT

Many U.S. producers say they can turn a profit at $50 a barrel and even as low as $30 in the Permian’s most productive regions. Yet most OPEC members need prices ranging between $70 and $90 per barrel to balance their budgets. The cartel scaled back output in 2016, but shale producers roared back as prices recovered. *** Barack Obama, hilariously, is now claiming credit for the shale boom. “You know that whole suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer . . . that was me, people,” he said last month at Rice University. But drilling leases on federal land declined 28% during his two terms amid new restrictions on land use. Drilling skyrocketed on private land, despite attempts by his regulators to block pipelines, slow down approvals, and impose higher costs on production. ...Politicians in the past have sought to secure American energy independence with price controls, ethanol mandates and the oil export ban. But they and OPEC should note that America owes its new energy prosperity to industry innovation, private property, and the free market.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: algeria; angola; canada; congo; drill; ecuador; electricvehicles; elonmusk; energy; equatorialguinea; gabon; hydrocarbons; indonesia; iran; iraq; kuwait; libya; maga; mexico; nigeria; norway; opec; pemex; qatar; russia; saudiarabia; sudan; tesla; unitedarabemirates; venezuela
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A salute to all the oil workers. And a special mention to the many that were whipsawed and lost a lot.
1 posted on 12/15/2018 10:35:09 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

As with Algore claiming credit for the Internet, Barry is claiming credit for anything that just happened to have happened on his watch ... that wasn’t Bush’s fault of course.


2 posted on 12/15/2018 10:38:14 AM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I’m amazed he even has the guts to say that. He did everything he could to strengthen OPEN, from reducing federal offshore leasing to stricter EPA controls. The American public is so dumb, he’s getting away with it.


3 posted on 12/15/2018 10:45:38 AM PST by econjack
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To: DUMBGRUNT

A nation balancing its budget is a very different thing from a private company making a profit.

Saudi Arabia can pump oil for $10 a barrel, so of course they can make a profit. But they need $90 a barrel to cover the government budget, which is an entirely different metric.


4 posted on 12/15/2018 10:46:19 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Many U.S. producers say they can turn a profit at $50 a barrel and even as low as $30 in the Permian’s most productive regions. Yet most OPEC members need prices ranging between $70 and $90 per barrel to balance their budgets.
It's not just OPEC that is breaking, the EU sources 45 percent of its petroleum from gangster-run Russia.
OPEC Has Already Turned to the Euro
GoldMoney Alert
February 18, 2004


...The source for the euro exchange rate is the Federal Reserve, and I have calculated the euro's average exchange rate to the dollar for each year based on daily data.
US Imports of Crude oil
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Year
Quantity (thousands of barrels)
Value (thousands of US dollars)
Unit price (US dollars)
Average daily US$ per € exchange rate
Unit price (euros)

2001

3,471,066
74,292,894
21.40
0.8952
23.91
2002
3,418,021
77,283,329
22.61
0.9454
23.92
2003
3,673,596
99,094,675
26.97
1.1321
23.82
We can see from column (4) in the above table that in 2001, each barrel of imported crude oil cost $21.40 on average for that year. But by 2003 the average price of a barrel of crude oil had risen 26.0% to $26.97 per barrel. However, the important point is shown in column (6). Note that the price of crude oil in terms of euros is essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period.

As the dollar has fallen, the dollar price of crude oil has risen. But the euro price of crude oil remains essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period. It does not seem logical that this result is pure coincidence. It is more likely the result of purposeful design, namely, that OPEC is mindful of the dollar's decline and increases the dollar price of its crude oil by an amount that offsets the loss in purchasing power OPEC's members would otherwise incur. In short, OPEC is protecting its purchasing power as the dollar declines.

5 posted on 12/15/2018 10:51:54 AM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

https://outline.com/D8kejz


6 posted on 12/15/2018 10:55:55 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democracy dies when Democrats refuse to accept the result of a democratic election they didn't win.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
To kick this into high gear we need to cut the gas tax and put on a 20% tariff on imported oil.
7 posted on 12/15/2018 10:57:55 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

No more gold toilets in their customized 747’s.


8 posted on 12/15/2018 10:58:43 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

It’s not a stretch to say without US fracking our economy could have slid into a depression during the Obama era. As it was it was touch and go. Oil & gas production thanks to fracking was the only industry growing for a time...and leases saved many family farms. Then OPEC went to war and tried to collapse the price of oil to kill it. Lower energy prices helped other parts of our economy, the less profitable producers went under and the better capitalized bought their assets pennies on the dollar. We avoided trouble in the financial sector that had financed that early growth and waited out OPEC’s attack. We now are the world’s largest producer and as of last month essentially self sufficient. GOD BLESS THE HARD WORKING MEN AND WOMEN that produce our oil & gas.


9 posted on 12/15/2018 11:05:49 AM PST by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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To: SkyDancer

They might get so low on cash that they cut down on funding terrorism.


10 posted on 12/15/2018 11:06:21 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Leave the job, leave the clearance. It should be the same rule for the Swamp as for everyone else.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
It’s not an overstatement to say Frackers saved the United States
11 posted on 12/15/2018 11:19:14 AM PST by rdcbn
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To: KarlInOhio

That won’t happen. That’s their top priority. If they don’t fund the wahhabis, the wahhabis will go jihad on THEIR butts! They don’t have the guts to stand up to the wahhabi mullahs in Saudi Arabia, so they buy them off by funding their jihadis around the world.


12 posted on 12/15/2018 11:23:43 AM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind but now I see...)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Wait, I thought carbon was BAD, and building a fossil plant, especially a coal one, was going to bankrupt a person. Now he’s Mr. Oil?


13 posted on 12/15/2018 11:26:57 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Still Thinking

14 posted on 12/15/2018 11:30:30 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

We’re not the last major superpower for nothing.

Not thst we’re not on the decline, but we can still do things many other places cannot.


15 posted on 12/15/2018 11:32:04 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: proxy_user

You made an EXCLLENT poit about needing $ 90 to cover the government’s budget.

Having said that I feel compelled to more accurately define the term “Government Budget”. Like almost all third world countries, and Saudi Arabia is definitely a third world country, the bulk of the government’s budget is spent suppressing rebellion. In Saudi Arabia’s case this means direct payments to their citizens so they don’t have to work.

What happens if the government misses a payment? Look to Paris for an answer.


16 posted on 12/15/2018 11:35:12 AM PST by Nip
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To: KarlInOhio

Yeah, I doubt that those muzzie terrorists won’t do their killing for free.


17 posted on 12/15/2018 11:37:57 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: jdsteel

I worked the oil fields of west Texas in the late 70s and early 80s during my summer break. Talk about rear-end busting work and looooong hours. Many nights I slept in my truck because I was too tired to drive and would have to be at work in the next few hours.

An old comment made to me one time by a guy who owned rigs - “See that rig? Every time it goes up and down I get $20”

That was a long time ago.


18 posted on 12/15/2018 11:38:51 AM PST by Dacula
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To: jdsteel
It’s not a stretch to say without US fracking our economy could have slid into a depression during the Obama era.

It's also not a stretch to say that the reason so many manufacturers are moving back to the USA is because we now have a cheap, reliable, dependable and secure source of energy which is a key component of any manufacturing process.

Companies moved to China and elsewhere to offset their rising energy costs (because of OPEC, rising prices) with cheaper labor.

They don't have to do that anymore. Best trained labor force in the world is right here and a secure, reliable, cheap source of energy is here also. It's a win-win for our economy and that asshole Barack Insane OBama had nothing to do with it.

19 posted on 12/15/2018 11:50:31 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: DUMBGRUNT

The icing on the cake— we are hurting our enemies Russia, Iran, Venezuela....


20 posted on 12/15/2018 11:53:53 AM PST by dhs12345
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