Quote Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
I think it was because ME oil was cheaper to drill for than oil in the US. It didn't make economic sense to dril on US soil outside of the oilfields that were easily accessible, like those in texas.

That's also the reason that shale oil did not become economically viable. The cost was bigger than the current price of oil per barrel -> no profit -> no investement.

As soon as that threshold is reached, US oil and shale oil become interesting again from a price pov.
We have oil bubbling out of the sea floor near Santa Barbera that is easy as pie to get and there are other places too. this argument that ME oil is cheaper is nonsense.