
America is set to surpass Saudi Arabia in a 'remarkable' oil milestone - jonbaer
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/business/us-oil-exports-saudi-arabia/index.html
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nate_meurer
Enjoy it while it lasts. America's largest shale plays are in decline. More
worryingly, shale oil producers have never been profitable. They lose money
consistently year after year, to the tune of hundreds of billions pf dollars
total since 2010 [1]. The industry is entirely funded by revolving and growing
debt. Production is simply not sustainable at current prices, however oil
prices that do make production profitable can rapidly damage the economy,
further imperiling debt-funded exploration for new reserves, which is urgently
needed to prevent the world from running right the fuck out of oil. That's the
scary reality of our balls-to-the-wall extractive economy.

1 - [https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Wall-Street-
Loses...](https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Wall-Street-Loses-Faith-
In-Shale.html)

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Fjolsvith
With the US having the largest oil reserves in the world and half of that
being shale [1], I doubt we are going to see an implosion. Besides, Big Oil
Companies are getting into the game with their massive war chests [2], so
while the little companies are going under, the big ones will take over and
keep the crude flowing.

1\. [https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/05/investing/us-untapped-
oil/i...](https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/05/investing/us-untapped-
oil/index.html)

2\. [https://www.investors.com/news/oil-companies-target-oil-
pipe...](https://www.investors.com/news/oil-companies-target-oil-pipeline-
capacity-us-shale-oil-surge/)

~~~
nate_meurer
The only way to avoid an implosion is to find a way to make shale oil
profitable. Given that no one's been able to do that, after a couple decades
of trying, I'm deeply skeptical that the big boys will do any better. I think
they're desperate, after cutting a trillion dollars in capex on conventional
exploration since the crash. Meanwhile, shale is sitting on massive a debt
bubble that won't be payed off with modest profitability. They need to make
big profits to dig out of that.

