If you want to understand why OPEC is having such a hard time squeezing shale producers out of the energy market, look no further than Rice Energy's multi-dimensional, $2.7 billion acquisition of Vantage Energy.
Yes, it's a natural-gas deal, not oil. But that isn't the point. The point is that a deal of this scale, requiring this much new money, for a commodity this beaten down, is getting done at all in the U.S. exploration and production sector.
