The price hasn't fallen enough yet to spark an economic boom. Cutting gas tax will drive the cost of gas lower without hurting oil production. Letting the barrel of oil price drop more will only hurt US oil production. Fracking can't continue below $50 a barrel.
The US oil industry has been using hydraulic fracturing since the 1940s. It won’t end at $50 oil. It certainly won’t grow like it was at $100, but it won’t go away either.
Not just a whole heck of a lot can continue below $50. If $50 goes on very long there will be blood in the streets of the oil patch and keys in the flower beds in Houston, Midland and Williston.
About the only thing happening will be obligatory drilling for lease hold and work overs. I’ve seen it all before times FOUR and it is absolutely brutal.
There was hardly a breath of air stirring in the oilfield in ‘86/’87 that one lasted for years, or ‘98/’99 or ‘01/’02. I was shocked ‘08/’09 recovered so well with global demand down so much.
‘82 was brutal. I laid down 18 rigs in a month out of 21 that we had running. There was so little left. I had a lump in my chest bigger than a basket ball for months. So many people out of work. So many that had to be told bad news. You do what you can but seeing good men that do great work and want to work break down has taken a toll on me for decades now. It is so painful to experience.