re: Rumor Shell is closing down its New Orleans operations

People forget we had Katrina and Rita money in 2008. We didn't really get hit

Elaboration:

1). Oil exists in rock in the ground.
2). For most of the twentieth century, our oil came from rocks called sandstone.
3). Sandstone is porous. Think about a sponge. The spaces in the sponge that hold water are its porosity.
4). Most of the easy oil in sandstone in the US has been tapped.
5). That leaves shale.
6). Shale contains oil but is not very porous. In other words, the oil is more widely dispersed in the rock.
7). The industry found a way to get oil out of shale through"unconventional" means using a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
8). As a result, the US produced more oil last year than it ever had.
9). The Saudis hate that; more importantly, the Saudis can produce oil through conventional means FAR more cheaply than the US producers can through unconventional means.
10). The Saudis can turn a profit at 20 a barrel; US unconventional oil breaks even at 50-70 a barrel.
11). The Saudis depressed the price of oil to knock out the US unconventional producers.
12). It's working.
13). It's gonna be a long damn time before anybody puts any new money behind a US unconventional shale play.

Questions?

quote:

---

It's a well paying job, with great benefits. So, yeah, most people (if given the choice) would jump at working in O&G.

---

nobody is criticizing people for this. it's a boom/bust industry that was just hiring in a boom. you have to understand that part as well

quote:

---

I guess it would be better if people had no ambitions and chose to dig ditches or work at a local cubicle job. Guess that's a more recession proof job, right?

---

if it's a more recession-proof job than it is more recession-proof. it's a trade of salary/benefits for security

you're just moving risk around

the point you're replying to is just saying that the oil industry is not stable. that is the sacrifice of working there. expecting sympathy from people who sacrificed salary/benefits for stability when that instability rears its ugly head is excessive. that's all he was saying

quote:

---

shale gas was booming in 2008/2009 so LA, especially north LA was spared

---

We were still feeling the effects of Rita and Katrina which kept some of the demand for new homes steady then the spill happened after that slowed down so we were quite shielded for many years and it wasn't all because of shale gas.

quote:

---

i'm trying to go in a new direction anyway

i am kind of thinking of possibly speculating in lafayette in a year or 2 when the bottom falls out

---

Me and you need to grab lunch one day.

quote:

---

People forget we had Katrina and Rita money in 2008. We didn't really get hit

---

And then the fleecing of BP further masked a lot of the underlying deficiencies here. Chickens coming home to roost. I don't say this gleefully by any stretch.

It matters. This will be really bad if it happens.

quote:

---

Me and you need to grab lunch one day.

---

yeah

i almost emailed you this morning about a house in my 'hood i just heard about

quote:

---

Chickens coming home to roost. I don't say this gleefully by any stretch.

---

i was joking with my ex (who lives in TX and always wanted me to move there) last week about how i finally grew some balls and was finally considering moving there for the new opportunities...right as its economy is about to dissolve

Really? So what happened in your world?