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can you link to or provide a little more info on the "boom-bust cycle that early fossil went through"?

• nsp 9y ago
  This is probably more than you want to read, but The Prize by Daniel Yergin is a stellar history of the oil industry from 1800s-1990s https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123 https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/14391...
  • forgotmysn 9y ago
    Oh perfect, thank you. I've read Sinclair's Oil, but that's about it.
• diafygi 9y ago
  Here's a recent example with the shale boom-bust: http://www.energytrendsinsider.com/2015/11/04/boom-to-bust-5-stages-of-the-oil-industry/ http://www.energytrendsinsider.com/2015/11/04/boom-to-bust-5... This is extremely typical in the history of energy (wood, coal, oil, solar, nuclear, wind, and on and on) because of the speed at which things move. First, you come up with a new innovation, pump capital into building tons of it (the boom). Then, someone else comes up with an innovation, which busts you. It's fundamentally impossible to defend an advantage/monopoly long term in energy (except with governments, e.g. utilities). Coincidentally, this is why we don't see much VC participation in energy, and when they do participate, they usually lose their shirt. The competitive fundamentals of energy aren't compatible with monopoly seeking.
  • ramzyo 9y ago
    >> It's fundamentally impossible to defend an advantage/monopoly long term in energy (except with governments, e.g. utilities) I'd argue the causal factors here are more attributable to a combination of natural forces in quasi-free market economies (e.g. competition) and antitrust laws than the specific economics of the energy industry.