, Columnist
Texas, Like OPEC, Can't Turn Back Time for Oil
There’s a reckoning coming for frackers that can’t be stopped.
An oil well in Texas, where some frackers are running out of time.
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The Texas Railroad Commission has been petitioned to go back in time.
The commission just held a marathon hearing on whether it ought to do something it hasn’t done in almost 50 years: organize curbs on the state's oil output. I say “organize” because cuts are happening anyway; there’s simply no choice when the Covid-19 crisis has wiped out maybe a third of global oil demand. Several companies, including large frackers such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co., have called on the commission to “pro-ration” production to support oil prices.