Workers on a fracking rig in the Permian Baisin, Texas © Getty Images
The oil price is falling again, with the latest drop taking the price in the US below $50 a barrel. Behind the fall is a remarkable story of technical progress which is once again driving up the volume of oil produced from American shale rocks.
It is now almost a decade since the US shale revolution began. From almost nothing production of gas from shale rocks in the country has risen to almost 50bn cubic ft/day at the beginning of this year, according to data from the US Energy Administration. Low-cost convenient gas pushed coal out of the power sector. Instead of importing gas, as many had expected, the US became self-sufficient before becoming an exporter first of coal and then of gas, in both cases weakening already fragile global markets.
Read more
