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It currently costs about $10-12 million to drill and produce a well in West Texas. The fact that a barrel of crude is only ~$60 is absolutely mind-boggling.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
The current crude price is due to a worldwide glut in the oil market along with weakening demand growth, OPEC facing forces that are causing it to make production missteps it has no choice but to make, and US shale having to pump to service debt they've overextended themselves with. Chesapeake Energy, previously an O&G industry darling, is struggling under $9 billion in crushing debt, and has made statements they may not be able to continue as a going concern. At the same time, investors are not so interested in overly optimistic and aggressive well depletion projections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec/opec-extends-oil-cut-to-prop-up-prices-as-economy-weakens-idUSKCN1TW1LF https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec/opec-extends-oil... (OPEC extends oil cut to prop up prices as economy weakens) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-08/the-world-s-oil-glut-is-much-worse-than-it-looks https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-08/the-wo... (The World’s Oil Glut Is Much Worse Than It Looks)
- tialaramex 7y ago
  It's not just the debt. Climate concern means that instead of the choice being between selling your oil for $1 today or hoping to get $2 tomorrow, now it's $1 today or get lynched for pumping oil out of the ground tomorrow. Worse, the producers don't know when exactly tomorrow is. Probably it's before 2050, but maybe it's before 2040. If enough people get scared it could be sooner. This is one reason many in that industry actually supported global carbon taxes. Having your entire industry phased out smoothly is a nice predictable future. Sure, you'd rather continue to make money forever, but a smooth exit is the next best thing. Some readers have probably had garden leave, an employer terminates you but pays you salary for a few months to stay home and not work - as an employee you can't tell any secrets or work for someone else. It's unsatisfying, but it's predictable, the mortgage gets paid. Much scarier to show up one morning and find oh, the company went bankrupt, you won't get this month's pay and the tax man hasn't received their cut for the last six months either. Same thing with a gradually increasing system-side carbon tax. Using oil becomes uneconomic, but gradually and predictably. The industry dies but the people running it come out OK. We've opted for a world where it may all go very wrong for them very quickly.
- anon73044 7y ago
  Chesapeake suffers from decades of mismanagement. Granted there are other oil companies that are also suffering (Lynn, Continental, Williams, Devon, OXY, etc.) But there are a few that are doing well (Total SA, NYSE:MCP, PRNG, EGY, etc) Disclaimer: several family members are current and previous Chesapeake employees. I no longer own any of the stocks listed above.
allovernow 7y ago
Offshore deep water wells the world over regularly cost $100MM-$200MM+ just to drill.
readhn 7y ago
A dentist in west Texas charges $150 for a regular tooth filling. A dentist in the middle east charges $15 for the same job.

toomuchtodo 7y ago

The current crude price is due to a worldwide glut in the oil market along with weakening demand growth, OPEC facing forces that are causing it to make production missteps it has no choice but to make, and US shale having to pump to service debt they've overextended themselves with. Chesapeake Energy, previously an O&G industry darling, is struggling under $9 billion in crushing debt, and has made statements they may not be able to continue as a going concern. At the same time, investors are not so interested in overly optimistic and aggressive well depletion projections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec/opec-extends-oil-cut-to-prop-up-prices-as-economy-weakens-idUSKCN1TW1LF https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec/opec-extends-oil... (OPEC extends oil cut to prop up prices as economy weakens) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-08/the-world-s-oil-glut-is-much-worse-than-it-looks https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-08/the-wo... (The World’s Oil Glut Is Much Worse Than It Looks)

tialaramex 7y ago
It's not just the debt. Climate concern means that instead of the choice being between selling your oil for $1 today or hoping to get $2 tomorrow, now it's $1 today or get lynched for pumping oil out of the ground tomorrow. Worse, the producers don't know when exactly tomorrow is. Probably it's before 2050, but maybe it's before 2040. If enough people get scared it could be sooner. This is one reason many in that industry actually supported global carbon taxes. Having your entire industry phased out smoothly is a nice predictable future. Sure, you'd rather continue to make money forever, but a smooth exit is the next best thing. Some readers have probably had garden leave, an employer terminates you but pays you salary for a few months to stay home and not work - as an employee you can't tell any secrets or work for someone else. It's unsatisfying, but it's predictable, the mortgage gets paid. Much scarier to show up one morning and find oh, the company went bankrupt, you won't get this month's pay and the tax man hasn't received their cut for the last six months either. Same thing with a gradually increasing system-side carbon tax. Using oil becomes uneconomic, but gradually and predictably. The industry dies but the people running it come out OK. We've opted for a world where it may all go very wrong for them very quickly.
anon73044 7y ago
Chesapeake suffers from decades of mismanagement. Granted there are other oil companies that are also suffering (Lynn, Continental, Williams, Devon, OXY, etc.) But there are a few that are doing well (Total SA, NYSE:MCP, PRNG, EGY, etc) Disclaimer: several family members are current and previous Chesapeake employees. I no longer own any of the stocks listed above.

allovernow 7y ago

Offshore deep water wells the world over regularly cost $100MM-$200MM+ just to drill.

readhn 7y ago

A dentist in west Texas charges $150 for a regular tooth filling. A dentist in the middle east charges $15 for the same job.