Cartoon Of the Week

Regardless of who wins the presidential election this coming Tuesday, America's future hydrocarbon policies will be implemented by the ignorant. No president in American history has understood the oil and natural gas business, ever. As they might say in Aberdeen, we're fooked.

In our nation we do NOT have unlimited natural resources; that term was created in North Dakota and West Texas by self serving CEO's of shale oil companies and made its way to Washington DC where it was bought into, hook, line and sinker.

Shale oil is expensive to extract and has proven to be woefully unprofitable for private business in America. Over-drilled shale basins are beginning to show signs of depletion and well productivity is starting to plateau, even decline. Public and private shale oil companies in America now have two times the total national debt of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and at current oil prices the shale oil industry will have to produce two times what is has already produced the past 13 years...just to get out of that debt.

Click to enlarge; thanks to shaleprofile.com

Try this on for size... 50% of all horizontal shale oil wells drilled in America's four major shale oil basins since 2008 now produce less than 25 barrels of oil per day and at current oil prices are nearing economic limits. Those wells are still declining, at an alarming 12-18% per year, and simply will not live long enough to ever be classified as stripper wells...then they will be plugged.

Or this...at the end of 2Q19 over 70% of America's nearly 8MM BOPD of unconventional shale oil production was less than 18 months old and on the way to declining 45-55% per year.

Exporting America's last oil resources at a financial loss, extracted on credit, no less, needs to STOP... like yesterday. How does exporting oil help our country's long term energy security? It doesn't.

Flaring associated shale oil gas, to facilitate these oil exports, looks like this...

The fella pickin' his nose, whoever he collectively represents, is in charge of America's energy policies, remember that. He hasn't a clue.

When our oil is gone in our great country, and it just about is...that's all she wrote.