Not blaming at all. One would be a fool to pass it up.

I blame the companies creating the fantasy land that so many have been living in. Very similar to the housing balloon crash. Finance companies, appraisers, and realtors creating a fantasy land and then the main people that get hit and lose it all are the hard working people that thought they had it figured it out when they bought that home.

I'm glad prices are low. I filled up my truck the other day for less than $40.

Soon, I'm hoping to fly to Costa Rica round trip for $400.

I'm in maintenance for an oilfield service company and yeah- we're cutting "fat" from the crews but it's about time.

Fracking is bad for the environment anyways- so if we don't need to do it, we should be glad.

If you've got skills and are hardworking, you either won't get laid off or in the end you'll be better off for it.

Also, remember what the world "economy" means. If you look at it objectively- lower prices are good for the economy.

For too long (and still) we have an anti-economy.

Third thought in a row:

Oil prices were artificially high, now they're artificially low. Both times because of politics and power, not market.

Four:

Welfare is welfare, whether it's subsidized oil or subsidized groceries or subsidized houses.

I was the one paying for all the consumerism from people who were getting rich from inflated wages off of inflated prices.

Now, I get a break.

As long as they leave me alone ,my pay alone ,my area alone for next 15 years where I can retire !!

I'm good

In 2008 I was in Florida working in the consumer marine industry for 10 years.

Fuel prices strained the market and the housing crises finished it off.

Both were due to BS market influence. Now I work maintenance in the oilfield and it seems that I'll likely experience similar effects from similarly BS market influences.

One of the certainties I can take from these experiences:

Don't expect to be left alone.

[QUOTE=Nickt87;737026]Yea, that's what it was. Demand was excruciatingly high and supply was at a staggering low for a High School educated 20 year old male to go work 14 days a month and make $100k/year.

yep it was tough finding young men that could write a sentence, read and understand a procedure, perform simple math, pass a drug test, and have a work ethic needed to do the quality work in a safe manner. That coupled with the fast increase in drilling, it was tough to keep the good guys because competition for their technical expertise. Service companies didn't drive the price of oil up. The large number of small operators starting up to get into the business, and even the more established companies leasing as many rigs they could caused a shortage of workers. I sit on several industry committees, including API, COS, and OOC, and lack of the number of quality workers has been a hot topic for the past 5-6 years. I just can't believe the annomosity I see on here for the blue collar guys finally getting ahead. And I'm not a blue collar guy. I just respect the h3ll out of them.

[quote=irokcj5;737107]No one is upset with the blue collar guy, don't get it misunderstood. And it won't only be the blue collar guy to take a hit, it will be everyone that is directly and indirectly related to O&G(all of us). I'm a non-essential employee in the oil and gas industry, I understand the risk for ALL of us.

No one said the service companies drove the price of oil up either. They took advantage of an opportunity when it was there, but bottom line is that the margins were very high. Margins can be much lower and still be sufficient enough to operate the business in the black. That's what it will take to survive the dip. How the businesses decide to be more cost efficient is up to them. If the business decides its not worth it to operate than that's up to them too.

Oh, and the Human Resource shortage has been the story of this country for years even when the unemployment rate was at 9%, and not only in the oil industry. It's what happens when the culture of a country believes that everything is granted to them and they choose to work for ridiculous wages or they prefer to not work at all.

[quote=Nickt87;737113]+1000 on that last statement. Good luck, bud.

Just did a bit of research. Remember when it was reported that the U.S. surpassed Saudi in production. It was October 14. I found a one year graph of oil prices and found the steep fall in prices started.....in October. Just found it interesting.

cut and pasted

Former oil exec: $5-a-gallon gas on the way

John Hofmeister attracted national attention in 2010 when he predicted that average U.S. gasoline prices would soar to $5 a gallon in 2012, thanks to rising crude oil prices. His forecast fell short, as the cost of filling up flirted with $4 in 2012, but never went higher.
Now, with national gasoline prices currently averaging $2.05 a gallon, their lowest level since early 2009, the former president of Shell Oil 06is issuing another warning, telling motorists that their joy ride may end sooner than they think.
"The next round of high prices is likely to start later this year, as crude rebounds to the $80s and $90s, perhaps pushing to the $100 level by late in the year or early next," Hofmeister told me the other day after a trip to Calgary, where he was promoting natural gas as a transportation fuel.
"The triggering mechanism will be global demand growth relative to how much capital constraint gets baked into future plans for production this year and next. If new production capital is deferred and demand growth continues at 2% or more, we'll see capacity constraints during 2016, an election year of course, drive prices higher. Whether we reach $4 a gallon or push past, it's too early to tell."
Moreover, Hofmeister still sees $5 gas on the horizon.
"Over the next several years, as demand growth approaches 100 million barrels a day and the industry production falls short, yes, I believe later this decade we'll see $5 a gallon and possible shortages of fuel in some parts of the world," he said.
Hofmeister paints a gloomier picture of gasoline prices than many analysts, including the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which predicts U.S. gasoline prices will average $2.33 this year and $2.72 in 2016. But he also feels that the perception of a "glut" in world oil production now is overstated, with supply outpacing demand by only 1 million barrels a day or so.
Some of his former peers in the oil sector share his sentiments regarding the oil oversupply, and its impact on oil prices.
"Most of us in the industry are surprised that it's fallen as hard and fast as it has," Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I don't know that I have a real good answer to that question, other than it doesn't feel like the fundamentals would support that kind of fall."
Like Hofmeister, Lance said oil prices could rebound faster than anticipated, as they did in 2009, following the Great Recession.
"People were worried about the global economy, and prices went to $30, $40 a barrel, and just a matter of months later, it was back to $100 a barrel," he said. "And that's the kind of volatility we're in, when we see these imbalances that are created, even though they are relatively small in absolute terms."
Still, Hofmeister sees a solution to end the roller-coaster pattern to oil and gasoline prices: natural gas.
Since retiring from Shell in 2008, he's been actively promoting natural gas as a transportation fuel, as the head of an organization called Citizens for Affordable Energy.
"I believe that with the right focus and development of the natural gas fuels market, we could begin to reduce global demand for oil from the 100-million-barrels-a-day level around 2020 to lower demand levels by substituting natural gas fuels," he said. "We could pull it back to 90, 80, even 70 million barrels a day over the next two to three decades, taking enormous pressure off chronic high oil prices."
In the meantime, though, his advice to motorists regarding gasoline is simple: "Enjoy the price, because it's going to go back up."

That is a good read Marty

Saudi says we'll "never" see $100/bbl oil again! I believe we'll see $5 /gal gas befor 100/bbl oil because obummer and greedy politicians are going to take this dip in gas prices to up the taxes.

That I believe, we will be paying higher tax for sure....... politicians suck ***, all of them!!!