North American oil companies going bankrupt?
This might be a far off situation, but what happens if the price of a barrel of oil falls below what North American companies can drill a barrel of oil for?
I'm sure that there would be greater pressure to drill off-shore and in ANWR, but even that would cost lots of money to set up to get some oil. And with a large enough push towards conservation, fewer trips, hybrids, battery-cars,CNG cars and bio-diesel/e85/ethanol could reduce our demand for oil and reduce the price.
Would we let these companies go under and only leave OPEC selling their cheap gas? Do they have enough cash reserves to handle a downturn for a few years?
Yes, I know it sounds like a weird question, but I thought about this while driving to work today.
|