“Oil producers aren’t just sitting there saying “if you don’t give me $100 per barrel I’m going to leave it in the ground.” They’re saying “if you don’t pay me $100 per barrel I’ll sell it to someone who will.” And plenty of others will.”
I would say it’s both. They’re leaving oil in the ground enough to create the justification saying “If you don’t pay me $100 per barrel I’ll sell it to someone who will.”
There's a bit of that with OPEC, but that's nothing new, and they're no more effective at it then they've ever been. Oil companies, on the other hand, pump whatever they can, because that's how they make money. Oil companies aren't the bad guy any more than pharmaceutical companies are, John McCain's idiotic comments notwithstanding.