"...the dream was always an illusion, and its collapse was already underway. That’s because oil fracking has never been financially viable. America’s energy independence was built on an industry that is the very definition of dependent — dependent on investors to keeping pouring billions upon billions in capital into money-losing companies to fund their drilling. Investors were willing to do this only as long as oil prices, which are not under America’s control, were high — and when they believed that one day, profits would materialize.
Even before the coronavirus crisis, the spigot was drying up. Now, it has been shut off."
Today, the price of oil dropped to less than a dollar a barrel. No demand during the coronavirus pandemic, so the bottom literally dropped out of the oil market.
Someday, the demand will return and oil prices will go up. But, if fracking was not truly economical before the virus, why would it become economical later? How many frackers will be able to sustain the crisis and hope for a better future?
I can't say I am unhappy about the possibility of the end of fracking in America. It seems very environmentally suspect. And there are many other sources of oil to be had. Who knows, this oil crisis may end up being an economical spur to non-hydrocarbon energy and transportation. I have long thought that the smartest kids in MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc, were hard at work developing green energy. Maybe there can be a real influx of moneys to help that along.
