[Political Junkie Too]

Share buybacks have been criticized by the Biden administration, which has called for oil companies to boost production to lower prices.

You can't just "boost production," as there is a science to depleting an oil reserve.

Geologists plot out a decline curve that optimizes the production of a reservoir that requires both producing wells and injection wells that maintain the pressure as the oil is taken out.

Over-producing a field can damage the oil reservoir.

Also, boosting production by drilling new wells is a multi-year process. First, they have to drill exploratory wells in new leases to find oil, then they have to drill test wells to determine flow rates and reservoir boundaries, then they have to drill the producing wells, all while building the field infrastructure to handle the waste that is also produced.

-PJ

[rktman]

Most folks think a simple opening the valve a little more is all it takes. Not quite that easy.