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Originally Posted by David70

Lowering prices with government funding or letting free enterprise work? Free enterprise has lowered the price of oil for both us and the Russians to a point that we have lowered our production (see below). They aren't selling their oil and natural gas to Europe at above market prices and they are producing the same products we are and there is plenty of private land to produce oil from. We aren't short on available oil reserves now, opening up more public land won't change it. Also, December of 2015 Obama signed a bill allowing us to export oil after a 40 year ban. Assuming you actually thought this was a good thing. Until then we couldn't sell our crude to other countries.



Again, we are on a world market, Obama or any one country doesn't control oil prices. Crude oil prices hit $155 June of 2008 Obama took office Jan. 2009, they are now at about $54 a barrel. This has to do with oil demand in the world as well as fracking. Obama didn't create either of these market drivers.

Shutting off the reserves only matter when you need the production, we aren't using all of the areas that are currently open so it doesn't matter much, drilling activity is still moving forward but at a slow pace because prices are pretty low.

I agree on OPEC flooding the market to cut out fracking but never understood how this would work long term, either way as prices go back up fracking increased and as you said they have made it more efficient but not nearly as low cost as how they get their oil.



Oil production almost doubled from 2008 until 2015 (when oil prices dropped dramatically), I am interested in hearing more about how Obama caused this. He didn't believe that some public lands should be used for oil production, turning this into your idea that he wanted us to be held hostage and fill our enemies coffers is an opinion not supported by facts.

If his master plan was to cut our production, he obviously had no ability to make it happen.

2008 - 5000 barrels a day
2015 - 9415 barrels a day
2016 - 8874 barrels a day

Data/facts make the current political story difficult to follow.

It's a good discussion here, but my intent of this post was not to get into a political discussion. However, I've stated in the past that oil pricing is political and politicians can influence oil prices. I wish it were a true market economy for oil, but it's is not. I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm old enough to remember the OPEC oil embargos of the 1970's (there where two). There were gas lines at gas stations and rationing in effect, where one could only buy fuel every other day, and that's if one could find a gas station with gasoline. The embargos devastated the US car industry because the price of gasoline doubled practically overnight and far faster than the US industry could switch to more fuel efficient vehicles. It's an impact to the US economy we still feel today and it still affects US elections (re: Trump).

I've yet to believe any reasoning why oil prices rapidly went over $100 a barrel during Bush's era, but chalking it up to higher demand in India and China didn't fly with me.