Roadrunner
Roadrunner
It has always been BOOM/BUST.128,000 by June? That means a quarter of a million by the end of the year. At least.
The hydrocarbon industries are extremely capital intensive and full of risk. The rapid and dramatic fall in oil prices has an effect on these businesses that is swift and drastic.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of oil and gas companies operating in the "Lower 48" (or is that "Lower 55"?) are Independents and not the multi-national concerns such as BP, etc.
For those companies that manage to survive, their operating expenses will remain constant while their revenues plunge. And they have no way in which to pass along expenses to consumers, such as a pizza chain does.
Drilling rigs are being stacked, workers are being laid off, and wells are being shut in as they are too expensive to keep pumping.
I've seen this shit time and time again in my 60 years in the business.
My kids have shares in wells that have been shut down at least three times in the last 40 years.
Every time the price goes up, or the technology allows them to go deeper to get the oil, the checks start flowing.