Posted on 08/04/2016 12:58:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
Saudi Arabia knew that North American shale production could potentially torpedo their hold on the energy market via oil. So, they decided to trounce the natural gas market by opening the floodgates with petroleum. It didn’t work. The Telegraph now reports that shale production has cut prices so low that they can produce at prices that are lower that what’s required to keep Saudi Arabia’s socioeconomic fabric healthy:
Opec's worst fears are coming true. Twenty months after Saudi Arabia took the fateful decision to flood world markets with oil, it has still failed to break the back of the US shale industry.
The Saudi-led Gulf states have certainly succeeded in killing off a string of global mega-projects in deep waters. Investment in upstream exploration from 2014 to 2020 will be $1.8 trillion less than previously assumed, according to consultants IHS. But this is a bitter victory at best.
North America's hydraulic frackers are cutting costs so fast that most can now produce at prices far below levels needed to fund the Saudi welfare state and its military machine, or to cover Opec budget deficits.
[…]
Scott Sheffield, the outgoing chief of Pioneer Natural Resources, threw down the gauntlet last week - with some poetic licence - claiming that his pre-tax production costs in the Permian Basin of West Texas have fallen to $2.25 a barrel.
"Definitely we can compete with anything that Saudi Arabia has. We have the best rock," he said.
And yet, Democrats can’t stand this type of energy production. They’ve banned it in New York over trumped up fears about environmental damage. The most insane being that fracking causes earthquakes. It doesn’t. Oh, and that fracking pollutes drinking water. Again, it doesn’t.
I move in interesting circles. One of my gnomes that I only see yearly noted that Solar in CA has reached the point where the Utilities know the cost per KWH is so low that my gnome thinks their business model has too change, the price lines have crossed in solar's favor (Storage IMHO is still and issue).
Add to that wind's cost /KWH is lower than Nuclear, and we have a plant closing in IL because it isn't profitable anymore. Wind is ugly period, but Combined Cycle natural gas fired powerplants ( Turbine and Boiler to capture waste heat ) with their thermal efficiency of 55% to 60%+ is a way to use Fracking's Natural Gas to be clean and green ( green as in $ ) for Utilities IMHO and a great stop gap until Solar really breaks-through, or we get off our arse as a nation and truly go for "LFTR" Liquid Florine (cooled) Thorium Reactor.
A doctor I see is from Beirut, Lebanon. He says that Christians have been living along side muslims for centuries with no problem. He's a Christian. But he says the Saudis are evil and are the ones perpetrating discord throughout the arab world.
Maybe they should sell some of their gold toilets.
Good maybe they will ask Hillary to give the money back they gave to the Clinton family crime foundation
. . . with the caveat that it doesn’t do much for coal miners . . .
You work for Conan? The barbarian or O’Brien?
;-)
Funny Hillary never backed Arab spring for the house of Saud. Follow the money.
What we are witnessing with the Bushes is the usual third generation problem. GHWB had many admirable qualities. His sons, as the 3rd generation from Prescott Bush are waistrals. It’s sad, but it seems a universal law of physics defied in few notable cases (e.g. Trump who put his offspring to work at an early age). I think that is the thing. By the time you get to the 3rd generation of wealth folks forget about the important life lessons that come from work as a young person. Learning to drive a tractor isn’t just about learning to drive a tractor. It is about how things get done with real blood sweat and tears - some thing the younger Bushes never had to learn.
Watching Saudis population go feral would be the greatest popcorn event of all time
You’re welcome.
Good news.
Trump and Congress can ban Opecker oil and get rid of our left wing bs against shale oil production. Then, the Saud welfare system will crash.
That will cause the inbred Saudis to rebel and join Iran in a war lasting centuries against the Opecker Princes.
Isis will probably attack Saudi Land and forget about Assad.
Trump and Putin will destroy either faction if they stop fighting each other and try to attack Russia or us.
Saud off, GWB
Trump is a huge proponent of the Keystone pipeline
We also lost a lot of great American Soldiers in the wars after this tragedy. Should have just nuke a couple of mid-east cities and we wouldn’t have all this terrorism going on now.
Yes he is, and so is GWB. Elitist, ruling class, statist, globalist. They have put the World before the United States. Saudi Arabia is our enemy, not some King to bow down to. No American president bows before kings or potentates.
Kinda looks like MLK.
It just breaks my heart to watch OPEC melt like the Wicked Witch...
All your eggs in one basket, eh, Saudi Arabia?
Who said; “You have to break some eggs to make an omelet?”
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