View Full Version : We are in an oil bust, folks....



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Theo Walcott
12-04-2008, 10:40 PM
I sincerely hope that our local economy is diversified enough to handle this. Things will not be pretty if not. Analysts at MorganStanley are predicting $25/bbl oil. That is about $120 BELOW its JULY high.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIUEV3pCOJeo&refer=worldwide)

betts
12-04-2008, 11:11 PM
Actually, if that article is correct, it won't matter if we or anyone else is diversified. The ridiculous thing is that at least half of this is panic, and the media is fueling the panic. People hear housing prices are dropping and, lo and behold, they drop. People hear we're in a recession and they stop buying, which means manufacturers can't sell their products, so they let people go and stock prices fall, and then we have people panicking and losing their jobs and so they stop buying even more. We are not using 75% less oil than we were six months ago, and so it makes no sense that prices should drop that low.

Midtowner
12-05-2008, 12:30 AM
Oil was overvalued to begin with. $45/barrel ain't bad really...

NativeOkie
12-05-2008, 12:57 AM
Speaking to a friend today on Capital hill, he believes this is an effort to quiet the growing momentum of new drilling. It was making sense and gaining traction.

Who would want that? OPEC they don't want their biggest addict to become energy independent.
Prevailing thought is after January prices will start creeping up.

Chicken In The Rough
12-05-2008, 06:03 AM
Industry insiders keep saying that prices will rebound after January, and that mid-year 2009, we'll see $100/barrel again. But, I don't see it, and I don't understand how they derive their figures. Is it just wishful thinking?

China is struggling to avoid a recession. Europe, North America, and Japan are already there and haven't bottomed out yet. As China slides, oil prices will continue to decline in my opinion. I'm not sure we'll see $25/barrel, but I don't think we've seen the lowest prices yet.

OPEC is not willing to cut production because their economies need the cash flow. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, etc. need the cash to satisfy their exploding and increasingly politically uneasy populations.

We've had this discussion before, but this is a result, once again, of supply and demand. The falling price is primarily due to our market system. As demand falls, prices also fall. The speculators and traders see declining demand (or at least dramatically slowed growth) in the near future. As a result, they are pushing prices down.

One result of declining prices that is probably most difficult for us to handle is that the majority of people outside of the oil states are cheering this decline. They don't care if the price goes to $10. The media has pounded big oil profits into everyone's heads for the last couple years. As far as most are concerned, big oil is getting its just desserts.

Oil prices this low are, of course, damaging to the oil industry. But they are also crushing the alternative energy industries that we've been pushing so hard to develop. They will also kill mass-transit and encourage urban sprawl. They will also drain governmental coffers as the tax base is reduced.

Just as $140/barrel is damaging, so is $25. Why can't we just get to a moderate and sustainable price level?

bombermwc
12-05-2008, 07:20 AM
It's the same crap we always hear about oil. How many times did we heard them saying it was going to get to $5 a gallon? It would go up and then down and then as soon as it went up again, $5. Now we see the same panic folks saying it's going to bottom out.

It's just not going to happen folks. The only way it would get that low is if we totally changed the way we drive...and that hasn't changed enough. Plus, SUV sales are already up again with the dip we're currently in. You don't think they are going to be figured into an impact? A short 2 years of higher prices isn't going to amount to a hill of beans in another 5 years when we go through the same crap all over again.

It's a price that's determined by people in the futures market, so it will always violently fluxuate without any REAL reason. So, for any forseeable future, prepare to still be screwed over every time you gas up.

OKCMallen
12-05-2008, 07:57 AM
Natural gas prices are more important than oil prices for our local companies, guys. Pray for a very cold winter. A stat came out yesterday saying we were under-supplied a bit compared to expectations on natural gas, so that should have helped bu the "we're in a recession" announcement this week is dropping everything.

lasomeday
12-05-2008, 08:15 AM
Yeah, most companies in Oklahoma are now based around natural gas. It will go back up in the winter. It is cyclical. I think Oklahoma will do better than most of the nation because we have been conservative and our home values didn't double in value like Florida and California.

I just don't like that we have to pay for everyone else's mistakes.

adaniel
12-05-2008, 08:38 AM
I sincerely hope that our local economy is diversified enough to handle this. Things will not be pretty if not. Analysts at MorganStanley are predicting $25/bbl oil. That is about $120 BELOW its JULY high.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIUEV3pCOJeo&refer=worldwide)

Goldman Sachs predicted oil prices at $200/bbl by 2009 in July....these people couldn't predict the color of the sky.

I recently accepted a full time postion with a small oil land and regualtory firm and our business is fine. Most land companies like ours have seen a dip in business but nothing dramatic so long as they planned right. Engineers, technical workers, and most midstream operations are fine. Drilling operations are starting to take a hit though. The Permian area of Texas (where drilling has been mostly for oil) has seen a really significant pullback here lately.

I can speak from personal experience that hiring in the oil and gas sector has slowed tremendously, with several large companies including a few in OKC are trimming their hiring to decade lows. But just today the economy shed 535,000 jobs nationwide. The fact that any sector is hiring albeit very slowy is something to marvel at IMO.

I would say that if oi prices are this depressed through the middle of 2009, be worried. However, oil prices usually bottom out in Decmeber and January, and I think the worst of the economic doldrums will be over by this spring, so expect oil to go up sooner rather than later.

proud2Bsooner
12-05-2008, 08:41 AM
Iran can't survive with low oil prices for very long. Their economy will literally collapse. Expect them to make some noise, either through sponsorship of terror attacks or threats with Israel in an effort to create instability with oil markets. Mark it down.

TaoMaas
12-05-2008, 08:44 AM
I would say that if oil prices are this depressed through the middle of 2009, be worried.

I'm not convinced that we would need to worry even if prices stay depressed for a while. Folks may not be spending as much money on gas, but it's a pretty safe bet that they won't be opening up savings accounts with the money they're not spending on gas. More than likely, they'll spend the extra cash on SOMETHING, which means the dollars will still be circulating in the economy...there just may be a smaller portion of the overall amount going to oil companies.

BDP
12-05-2008, 08:47 AM
Oil was overvalued to begin with. $45/barrel ain't bad really...

Yep. Same with housing prices. This isn't a bust as much as it is coming back to reality. The drops are not being caused by the media, the media is just mislabeling them.

Most people have very short attention spans and little patience. The media simply caters to that mentality. It's not so much that things are bad, it's that what was good about it all 6 months ago wasn't based on any sustainable conditions.

What's funny is no one EVER reports a boom as bad or irresponsible, but half the people label a return to sanity as a bust or downturn. Simply draw your time lines out a little bit further and today looks a little bit more rational and 6 months ago resembles something closer to panic than today does.

Oklahoma is the perfect example. We didn't have a housing boom, so we don't have a bust. Pick your poison: slow controlled growth or erratic fluctuations where, if you do it right you win millions, if you do it wrong you lose millions.

As long as Oklahoma stays prudent and continues to invest in itself through the slower times, we will be better prepared to take advantage of growth in the future than we ever have been.

Midtowner
12-05-2008, 08:58 AM
I say $45/barrel ain't bad.

That's true for the most part, but for companies like CHK, I worry. The way they were out there paying ridiculous sums for leases, unless they've got the cash to continue operations, they're screwed, at least in the short term. Their stock is back down to 11, btw.

mecarr
12-05-2008, 09:03 AM
I say $45/barrel ain't bad.

That's true for the most part, but for companies like CHK, I worry. The way they were out there paying ridiculous sums for leases, unless they've got the cash to continue operations, they're screwed, at least in the short term. Their stock is back down to 11, btw.

I've talked with at Devon that says a healthy, stable price for oil is around $80 a barrel. Where the price of oil goes from here is uncertain, as much of it depends on how the economy does in other coutnries around the world, especially China. My feeling is that the economy will get worse, and hopefully things will begin to turn by summer.

metro
12-05-2008, 10:38 AM
Wow, long time no hear from Theo Walcott. The price falling so low already is worrying me, alot of insiders were saying $60 p/b was the tipping point to where it could start hurting the local economy, I pray it doesn't go any lower, but as pointed out, it may get in the $20's.

I agree with betts, most of this is fear mongering lead by the media, Rovism at it's finest. Feed the public long enough and they will believe what they hear, regardless if it is completely true. Feed them enough fear and they'll buy into it and act upon it like we see people doing now. If everyone would just keep spending their money like they normally do, money would be flowing through the economy like normal. Quit buying into the media folks! I even talked to the editors at a local tv station this morning about this. They are hyping up the fear and panic!

wsucougz
12-05-2008, 12:06 PM
If everyone would just keep spending their money like they normally do, money would be flowing through the economy like normal. Quit buying into the media folks! I even talked to the editors at a local tv station this morning about this. They are hyping up the fear and panic!

The economy was being pushed along by credit cards and home equity loans. Nearly 1/4 of all U.S. homeowners are now underwater on their morgages. Going along spending money like we normally do would require financial institutions to keep loaning money like they normally do, and that isn't going to happen. People who make $35k simply can't afford a $200k house, 325i and $250 jeans.

This is not just some media generated panic - it's the real deal. Look at the manufacturing, jobs and retail reports. The numbers are horrible and rapidly deteriorating. We're due for a massive, painful contraction and it's all based on economics.

metro
12-05-2008, 02:09 PM
wsucougz, I agree with you also. I think we are both right. The ultimate thing that matters is what you mentioned, no one is lending money like they were. No more $35K millionaires in Dallas and LA. WE here in OKC though weren't living as stupid as the rest of the country and not much if any speculation building was really taking place, and our housing prices weren't really inflated since we've been nurturing slow, steady growth. I still believe if we spent with local companies and didn't hold money on hand in fear, our economy locally would be even better than it is, although I do agree, because of some national trends, we are and will continue to pay the price. I DO think the media hype is contributing to making the situation worse than it has to be. As the poster above pointed out, the public tends to follow the media's Rovism.

bluedogok
12-05-2008, 03:29 PM
I think the rapidness of the spikes is media and fear driven, I have been expecting a downward slide but not at this rapid of a pace but I also expected it to start a few years ago. Yes, there is going to be a natural contraction since most of the growth was fueled by false money and at some point the gravy train is going to stop...it always has and always will. The $100+ a barrel was driven by speculation more than real value, anything pumped up by speculation has the ability to fall rapidly if the market dynamics dictate, just like the housing bubble.

I wouldn't call it an "oil bust" just yet because it could ratchet back up as quickly as it fell. The difference this time is the entire world is feeling instead of just oil centered economies like in the early 80's. When the bust hit the rest of the country started coming out of the recession of the 70's. The middle east is feeling it as well and construction in Dubai has almost come to a standstill. I wouldn't be surprised to see massive reduction in production from those areas to try and get the price up...again which could feed another speculation bump.

betts
12-05-2008, 03:58 PM
I think the rapidness of the spikes is media and fear driven, I have been expecting a downward slide but not at this rapid of a pace but I also expected it to start a few years ago. Yes, there is going to be a natural contraction since most of the growth was fueled by false money and at some point the gravy train is going to stop...it always has and always will. The $100+ a barrel was driven by speculation more than real value, anything pumped up by speculation has the ability to fall rapidly if the market dynamics dictate, just like the housing bubble.

There were real problems with credit and housing, it's true. And a reckoning was going to come. It really ticks me off that greedy lenders and credit card companies were not only willing to allow people to borrow more than they could afford to, but they almost hounded people for their business. The one good thing about all of this is that I'm not getting five solicitations a day from Capitol One anymore. We're not being inundated with ads for refinancing and home equity loans.

We raise kids with very little understanding of finances (how many schools have a finance class?), and then we send them off to college where they are inundated with credit card offers they could obtain without their parents knowledge or consent. Ads on television and in the media encourage conspicuous consumption. Banks were offering interest only loans on homes, which in essence makes a homeowner a renter without someone else paying for repairs. Why are we shocked that people are in over their heads?

That being said, the news sensationalizes all this, which creates some of the panic leading to selling of stocks and people not spending money, which leads to a further downward spiral.

dismayed
12-05-2008, 07:14 PM
Interesting discussion. My take on it:

The price of oil isn't media-generated. Go pull up FedEx and UPS' financial predictions for next year. The entire shipping industry is looking at a growth contraction of around 11%. The shipping business is decreasing because production is decreasing across the board. As production decreases, trucking lines and shippers begin driving less. Multiply that times pretty much the entire world and that takes a big chunk out of demand for oil.

Additionally many power plants around the world burn oil for their source of energy... those that are powering production facilities are seeing a decrease in demand.

The other big factor is the fact that as the entire world's economy heads south, speculators have started dumping gold, oil, the Euro, etc. and have fled back to the old "tried and true" US Dollar. Dollar demand increases, causing a momentary rebound in our currency's value. Oil is of course priced in dollars.

All of this has dramatically reduced demand for oil and increased the power of the dollar against oil. This is why oil prices are falling off a cliff.

I don't feel sorry for the oil companies. It was clear that the kind of growth they were experiencing was vapid and unsustainable. The ones that had real business people running them saw this coming, raked as much in as they could and then saved their money. And the others... well the other's are headed by ex-billionaire executives that are now selling everything that they own.

blangtang
12-06-2008, 12:14 AM
kudlow on CNBC says the drop in gas prices is a huge tax cut! spend spend spend!

lol! joking!

is that devon tower gonna get built with $40 oil?

...i hope it is so...

Kerry
12-06-2008, 12:11 PM
I've talked with at Devon [employee] that says a healthy, stable price for oil is around $80 a barrel.

I sell pet rocks and I think $45 is a healthy, stable price for pet rocks. I consume gasoline and I think the healthy stable price for oil is $25 per bbl.

BTW, Prepare for the collapse of Iran, Valenzuela, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai. Three of the four have a majority of their population dependent on high priced oil and the other derives about 80% of their economy from the housing and construction market (the remaining 20% is from finance and oil related companies in the region).

Start brushing up on the history of the Dark Ages. History is about to repeat itself.

bluedogok
12-06-2008, 12:40 PM
is that devon tower gonna get built with $40 oil?

...i hope it is so...
Devon and Chesapeake are natural gas companies, I think they have very little (if any) investment in oil. They area also in such a cash position that they are able to do the project even with lower prices in natural gas than there was earlier this year. There is naturally some effect on natural gas prices when oil goes down but not a direct correlation. Natural gas (along with coal) power plants are being built all over the country that should increase demand and therefore price when they come online.

bretthexum
12-06-2008, 10:59 PM
Devon is a bit more exposed to oil than CHK. I think Devon is 20-30% oil. They have the big deep water project in the gulf right now.

Bunty
12-06-2008, 11:24 PM
Interesting discussion. My take on it:

The price of oil isn't media-generated. Go pull up FedEx and UPS' financial predictions for next year. The entire shipping industry is looking at a growth contraction of around 11%. The shipping business is decreasing because production is decreasing across the board. As production decreases, trucking lines and shippers begin driving less. Multiply that times pretty much the entire world and that takes a big chunk out of demand for oil.



If battery powered cars catch on like crazy that will also take a big chunk out of the oil demand. But I haven't heard just how long those batteries that cost close to $10,000 are supposed to last and keep taking a charge. If only a year or two, forget it.

Midtowner
12-07-2008, 01:16 AM
Sweet. Now our cars will run on coal!

bluedogok
12-07-2008, 09:36 AM
Plug-in cars will drive the power generation to electric companies, so expect more natural gas, coal, nuclear and alternative energy power plants to be constructed.

Plug-in cars will not be widely adopted until they can go further than 100 miles on a charge, battery development is the key to getting plug-ins into the mass market. Whoever develops that break through technology will hold the key to the future of that technology.

FRISKY
12-07-2008, 10:23 AM
Plug-in cars will drive the power generation to electric companies, so expect more natural gas, coal, nuclear and alternative energy power plants to be constructed.

Plug-in cars will not be widely adopted until they can go further than 100 miles on a charge, battery development is the key to getting plug-ins into the mass market. Whoever develops that break through technology will hold the key to the future of that technology.I have been saying the same thing for decades and have been looking for something to invest in. I truly believe whatever it is, is just around the corner. It will be the next Microsoft.

OKC PATROL
12-07-2008, 10:43 AM
How about a battery powered semi....

grantgeneral78
12-08-2008, 04:18 AM
I heard yesterday don`t be surprised to see gas drpo below a dollar a gallon. Would tha not be a shock or what!

kevinpate
12-08-2008, 05:16 AM
The prospect of 96 cent gas makes me wish I owned a storage container larger than the tank on my Suburban. Yeah, I know it ain't green, but you try and fit a 3/4 bass and its 6'3" musician and moms and pops in a Kia and then we'll talk about being green. :)

It was handy for Scouts too in the day.

fire121
12-08-2008, 08:05 AM
Apparently, Tom Brokaw suggested to Barack Obama on Meet the Press yesterday that we should raise the fuel tax just enough to push the cost of fuel to $4.00 per gallon, being that is the price point the general public began altering their driving patterns and it would force consumers into more fuel efficient vehicles.

Thankfully, Obama did not agree.

I am sure the same air headed news readers who eagerly report Exxon/Mobile's quarterly profits with antipathy and disdain will be as equally excited when they report the latest massive layoffs from those same despised companies. If only the general public would realize most of our pensions and 401ks are invested in the same oil companies.

I want reasonably priced gas and the oil companies to make a profit, so that many of my fellow citizens can keep their jobs and continue to pay taxes.

oneforone
12-08-2008, 11:49 AM
Apparently, Tom Brokaw suggested to Barack Obama on Meet the Press yesterday that we should raise the fuel tax just enough to push the cost of fuel to $4.00 per gallon, being that is the price point the general public began altering their driving patterns and it would force consumers into more fuel efficient vehicles.

Thankfully, Obama did not agree.

I am sure the same air headed news readers who eagerly report Exxon/Mobile's quarterly profits with antipathy and disdain will be as equally excited when they report the latest massive layoffs from those same despised companies. If only the general public would realize most of our pensions and 401ks are invested in the same oil companies.

I want reasonably priced gas and the oil companies to make a profit, so that many of my fellow citizens can keep their jobs and continue to pay taxes.

Why is it that you always hear the uber rich push that idea? I think it has nothing to do with saving the planet. It is all about making the automobile to where it is only available to the elite and the wealthy. In other words more fuel and cars for me. Less for the working class.

fire121
12-08-2008, 03:37 PM
The man who finally understands liberals or women could become very wealthy.

Kerry
12-08-2008, 08:31 PM
The man who finally understands liberals or women could become very wealthy.

Try to figure you a liberal? You can't use logic and reason to try and explain the illogical.

Try to figure out a woman? They are all crazy. You just have to find your kind of crazy.

Oh GAWD the Smell!
12-10-2008, 01:32 AM
I figured out a woman once.

It caused a rift in the space/time continuum thingy, and VOILA! Platypus and fossils to confuddle people for eons.

My bad. Sorry 'bout that asteroid back in the Cretaceous Period too.

At least I learn from my mistakes and will no longer get involved in land wars in Asia nor will I listen to Goldman Sachs for investment advice.

kevinpate
12-10-2008, 04:41 AM
truth: I understand women.
whole truth: I understand women well.
whole unvarnished truth: I understand women well enough to know I merely delude myself into thinking I understand them, and they find it amusing.

HOT ROD
12-11-2008, 01:44 PM
I don't think we're in an Oil Bust, I think it is a correction. The prices should have never gone so high to begin with. But now that the reason for the hike is out (and so is Bush), the market is correcting itself.

The days of inflation and price elasticity (energy anyways) appear to be over but it is still a growth market due to the new policy that will come down in a month, pushing for alternative energy and technology research. Hopefully OKC jumps into this and becomes the new energy center, alternative that is... (Houston can have the dirty stuff).

No worries -

oneforone
12-15-2008, 02:50 AM
I figured out a woman once.

It caused a rift in the space/time continuum thingy, and VOILA! Platypus and fossils to confuddle people for eons.

My bad. Sorry 'bout that asteroid back in the Cretaceous Period too.

At least I learn from my mistakes and will no longer get involved in land wars in Asia nor will I listen to Goldman Sachs for investment advice.


That's funny. I almost shot my hot chocolate through my nose.

Deli Head
12-15-2008, 12:17 PM
You said it, BDP! Considering the facts and alternatives, you could argue that OKC is in an enviable position. There will no doubtedly be some winners that emerge from the rubble when this is all over. If we play our cards right, we've got a great shot at becoming even stronger. Turn off the mind-sucking tube, stay prudent & support our local economy as much as possible. It's time to obey our parents & grandparents and show our children the way.

Bunty
12-15-2008, 05:35 PM
Try to figure you a liberal? You can't use logic and reason to try and explain the illogical.




Liberals are easy to figure out. They simply stand for freedom and equal opportunity for all. Now unless you are a bigot, what's so hard to grasp about that?

Kerry
12-15-2008, 08:29 PM
Liberals are easy to figure out. They simply stand for freedom and equal opportunity for all. Now unless you are a bigot, what's so hard to grasp about that?

Whatever.

TStheThird
12-15-2008, 11:54 PM
They only stand for freedom if you agree with their policy position, otherwise, you should be silenced.

Midtowner
12-16-2008, 12:01 AM
Liberals are easy to figure out. They simply stand for freedom and equal opportunity for all unless that exercise of freedom includes religious expression, disagreeing with socialist policies or disagreeing with positions taken by labor unions.

. Now unless you are a bigot, what's so hard to grasp about that?

Fixed.

MadMonk
12-16-2008, 07:45 AM
Liberals are easy to figure out. They simply stand for freedom and equal opportunity for all. Now unless you are a bigot, what's so hard to grasp about that?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
-Inigo Montoya

OKCMallen
12-16-2008, 08:05 AM
http://www.gearsandwidgets.com/external/wherethisthreadgoing.jpg

blangtang
12-17-2008, 12:59 AM
not oil, but CHK is cutting their capex(drilling,lease acquisition, etc.) "rightsizing',eh.

i moved here after the last oil bust. what was it like? seriously. i moved here and heard about david walters and scandals. an oil bust plus an ou football dropoff?

kevinpate
12-17-2008, 05:00 AM
> i moved here and heard about david walters and scandals.
> an oil bust plus an ou football dropoff?

That was you?!?

dismayed
12-21-2008, 08:50 PM
I sell pet rocks and I think $45 is a healthy, stable price for pet rocks. I consume gasoline and I think the healthy stable price for oil is $25 per bbl.

BTW, Prepare for the collapse of Iran, Valenzuela, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai. Three of the four have a majority of their population dependent on high priced oil and the other derives about 80% of their economy from the housing and construction market (the remaining 20% is from finance and oil related companies in the region).

Start brushing up on the history of the Dark Ages. History is about to repeat itself.

Interesting that you said this a few weeks ago. This is exactly what is now becoming apparent in Dubai. Between the fall in oil prices and the fact that almost all of their shiny new hotels were built on cheap credit, Dubai is looking at a pretty rough year next year.

Kerry
12-21-2008, 09:28 PM
Interesting that you said this a few weeks ago. This is exactly what is now becoming apparent in Dubai. Between the fall in oil prices and the fact that almost all of their shiny new hotels were built on cheap credit, Dubai is looking at a pretty rough year next year.

I am also sensing some powerball numbers if anyone is interested.

dismayed
12-22-2008, 05:55 PM
If they are 4 8 15 16 23 42 then I don't want to know about it.

Kerry
12-22-2008, 07:53 PM
Number 1 reason why this isn't an oil bust - everyone saw the decline coming. Nobody thought $147/bbl was the correct price. When the oil bust hit Oklahoma City in the 80s oil went to around $33 and a lot of the drilling was taking place in Oklahoma. However, everyone thought the price was going to $100 and they spent like it was. This time everyone saw the top coming and few thought the price would go to $200 (everyone except a few dolts on Wall Street working for Goldman Sachs that is). Now if people in and out of the oil industry spent like they though price would go to $200 then it would have been much worse.

Here is a little part of a 2001 story in the Houston Chronical.

In the early 1980s, oil was selling for about $33 a barrel, and most forecasts said it would reach $60. A few even predicted $100. The industry was booming and exploration soared.

Houston was attracting much attention from job-seekers, making the Chronicle classified employment-ad section a big seller out of state. Sunday Chronicles were shipped every week to Michigan, where the unemployment rate stood at 17.2 percent in December of 1982.

One Detroit newsstand owner reported that for six months in 1982 the Chronicle constituted about 80 percent of his business, about 900 papers a day.

But in early '82 oil prices began falling, stagnating at about $27 in '85. Then the bottom dropped out, and prices fell precipitously, finally reaching $10 a barrel in January 1986.

With 70 percent of jobs in the Houston area depending directly or indirectly on the oil industry, the bust was in full flower. Construction all but came to a standstill, and some financial institutions failed, while others tightened credit.

Thousands were thrown out of work. In January 1983, unemployment in the six- county Houston metropolitan area rose to 9.1 percent, the highest among the state's largest metropolitan areas. Beaumont-Port Arthur was hit even harder, with a rate of 14.9 percent. The overall rate for Texas was 8.5 percent.

But the national economy wasn't doing well, either, with unemployment hovering at 11.4 percent. In Texas, by the end of 1983 the rate had dropped to 8.3 percent.

MadMonk
12-23-2008, 08:02 AM
I was working for a petroleum reporting company in January '86 and remember that $10/barrel oil...yeah, my timing wasn't very good then.

redcup
12-30-2008, 06:48 AM
Try to figure out a woman? They are all crazy. You just have to find your kind of crazy.


Hey, woman here!

:sofa:

Kerry
12-30-2008, 08:36 PM
Hey, woman here!

:sofa:

Then your crazy.:smile:

Actually a friend of mine says that all the time and I thought it was kind of funny. He also tells people to "go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all full here."

bornhere
12-30-2008, 08:42 PM
That's Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets," although I think the actual line is, "You want to sell crazy? Go sell it somewhere else. We're all stocked up here."

Kerry
12-31-2008, 12:57 AM
So my friend is a phrase thief. Figures. He probably got it from a pawn shop.

Curt
12-31-2008, 04:28 AM
Try to figure you a liberal? You can't use logic and reason to try and explain the illogical.

Try to figure out a woman? They are all crazy. You just have to find your kind of crazy.


Agreed :tiphat:

Curt
12-31-2008, 04:37 AM
Oil was overvalued to begin with. $45/barrel ain't bad really...


$45 a barrel is sweet, they should however keep the price around $1.70 a gallon nationwide. When ya go to a Applebees and get the same meal in Michigan for the same price you get it in Oklahoma or go to McDonalds and get a cheeseburger for a set price and go two miles away and get it for the same price why cant gas stations keep their prices the same in the chain. Why is gas sometimes .20 cents a gallon higher from one Mobil station to the next Mobil at the next corner.

OKCMallen
12-31-2008, 11:13 AM
$45 a barrel is sweet, they should however keep the price around $1.70 a gallon nationwide. When ya go to a Applebees and get the same meal in Michigan for the same price you get it in Oklahoma or go to McDonalds and get a cheeseburger for a set price and go two miles away and get it for the same price why cant gas stations keep their prices the same in the chain. Why is gas sometimes .20 cents a gallon higher from one Mobil station to the next Mobil at the next corner.

I don't know about Applebee's, but McD's prices certainly do vary from place to place.