, Columnist
When Oil Becomes Optional
Oil has been made cheap. Can it be made obsolete?
Big oil.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Is this the beginning of the end for oil's long, tyrannical reign?
Amid turmoil in two of the world’s largest oil-producing regions, Russia and the Persian Gulf, the price of oil has declined from $110 last summer to below $70 last week. Explanations for the drop are many, ranging from an oil glut resulting from booming U.S. shale oil production to a Saudi plot to make U.S. shale unprofitable by driving down the price.