Energy & Science
America’s Oil Boom Feels More Like Bust in the Shale Patch
- The more U.S. oil that flows, the worse it gets for producers
- Land-flipping model is over, companies must now earn returns
Pumpjacks operate on oil wells in the Permian Basin in this aerial photograph taken over Crane, Texas.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Last month, two days before the latest government prediction that U.S. shale production would hit new heights, an oil industry conference in Houston opened with a clip of Eeyore making one of his bleak utterings: “End of the road, nothing to do and no hope of things getting better.”
It made sense to kick things off with Winnie the Pooh’s depressed donkey friend. As Kim Bourgeois, a managing director who focuses on energy at HOS Investment Partners, told the assembled crowd, “That’s what most of our Monday mornings have felt like.”