A Message From the Past

Ray Lofton Dudley was the original founder of Gulf Publishing Company and publisher of Oil Weekly Magazine, its first issue being printed in 1916. Oil Weekly evolved into World Oil Magazine, today one of the leading oil and natural gas industry publications in the world.

Mr. Dudley was an outspoken, no bullshit sort of man who often did not mince words regarding overproduction of America's resources and the harm it was doing to the oil and gas industry.

In 1922, I believe, the price of oil was something like 40 cents a barrel and US producers were still going wide open. Mr. Dudley was quoted, in response... "quit producing so much of the damn stuff."

Here is Mr. Dudley's editorial regarding overproduction on Friday, August 1, 1924...

"The oil industry is like a man who has gorged himself on rich food and finds more rich food offered him. He has no place for it and its presence is offensive. The petroleum industry has been gorged. Still the oil comes and is being refused."

"To produce a commodity like oil and sell it below its true value is a criminal waste and the man who does it is guilty of a crime. If the courts cannot punish him, future events can..."

Leveraged overproduction of light tight oil in America is helping to destroy worldwide oil and natural gas prices and harming the entire domestic oil industry in our country, including the shale oil sector itself. That is, and will have very harmful long term ramifications on our future.

"...When he is producing oil at a waste, it his problem. He should consider it as his problem and solve it as an individual."

Where does the US shale oil industry, and the American public, get off feeling "entitled," like it is the obligation of Saudi Arabia, OPEC and Russia to cut its production, so US shale can keep growing? On credit.

This shale oil overproduction insanity needs to stop, now.