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The Dangerous Economics of Shale Oil

For years, we've been warning here at PeakProsperity.com that the economics of the US 'shale revolution' were suspect. Namely, that they've only been made possible by the new era of 'expensive' oil (an average oil price of between $80-$100 per barrel). We've argued that many players in the shale industry simply wouldn't be able to operate profitably at lower prices.

Well, with oil prices now suddenly sub-$60 per barrel, we're about to find out.

The Dangerous Economics of Shale Oil

by davefairtex

Well, with oil prices now suddenly sub-$60 per barrel, we're about to find out.

The Shocking Data Proving Shale Oil Is Massively Over-hyped

by Adam Taggart

Hooray, oil is suddenly much cheaper than it used to be. That's great news, right?

Not so fast. For certain it's not good news for those counting on a continued rise in US oil production from the "shale miracle". Many drillers were challenged to operate profitably when oil was above $70 per barrel. Very few will remain solvent with oil in the $50s (as it is as of this writing).

So, expect US oil production to suffer from these lower prices if they persist. But even if oil prices rise and rise soon, there's new data that indicates the total amount of extractable oil from America's shale plays is less — much less — than what we're being told (or better put, "sold").

The Shocking Data Proving Shale Oil Is Massively Over-hyped

by Adam Taggart

Hooray, oil is suddenly much cheaper than it used to be. That's great news, right?

Reality-Optional Economics

by JHK

The total tonnage of economic malarkey being shoveled over the American public these days would make the late Dr. Joseph Goebbels (Nazi Minister of “Public Enlightenment and Propaganda”) turn green in his grave with envy. It’s a staggering phenomenon because little about it is conspiratorial; rather, it’s the consensual expression of a public that wants desperately to believe things that are untrue, and an economic leadership equally credulous, unmanned, and avid to furnish the necessary narratives that might preserve their jobs and perqs.

Reality-Optional Economics

by JHK

Richard Heinberg: The Oil ‘Revolution’ Story Is Dead Wrong

by Adam Taggart

With all the grandiosity of the media headlines touting our destiny as the new "Saudi America", many pundits have been quick to pronounce Peak Oil dead.

Here at PeakProsperity.com, one of the most frequent questions we've received over the past two years is: will the increased production from new "tight" oil sources indeed solve our liquid fuels emergency?

Not at all, say Chris and this week's podcast guest, Richard Heinberg. Both are fellows at the Post Carbon Institute, and you are about to hear one of the most important and most lucid deconstructions of the false promise of American energy independence:

Richard Heinberg: The Oil ‘Revolution’ Story Is Dead Wrong

by Adam Taggart

With all the grandiosity of the media headlines touting our destiny as the new "Saudi America", many pundits have been quick to pronounce Peak Oil dead.

Peak ‘Cheap’ Oil: Shale Oil Proves Peak Oil Is Indeed Upon Us

PREVIEW

by Chris Martenson

Ever the contrarian, I have been quite skeptical of the many breathless claims being made by wide swaths of the media about how a new energy bonanza is going to overtake the U.S. and eventually the world. The subject, of course, is the new shale plays in both natural gas and oil.

While these plays are in special cases quite extraordinary, and the technology is just brilliant, many of the more exuberant claims made in the past about the potential contributions of these plays are now being dialed back.