We Will Never See $100-Oil Again - Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal -- USA Today -- January 11, 2015

USA Today is reporting:

Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told me we will not see $100-a-barrel oil again.

The plunge in oil prices has been one of the biggest stories of the year. And while cheap gasoline is good for consumers, the negative impact of a 50% decline in oil has been wide and deep, especially for major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Even oil-producing Texas has felt a hit. The astute investor and prince of the Saudi royal family spoke to me exclusively last week as prices spiraled below $50 a barrel.

He also predicted the move would dampen what has been one of the big U.S. growth stories: the shale revolution. In fact, in the last two weeks, several major rig operators said they had received early cancellation notices for rig contracts. Companies apparently would rather pay to cancel rig agreements than keep drilling at these prices.

His royal highness, who has been critical of Saudi Arabia's policies that have allowed prices to fall, called the theory of a plan to hurt Russian President Putin with cheap oil "baloney" and said the sharp sell-off has put the Saudis "in bed" with the Russians. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

At the end of the day, if consumers are paying less for gasoline; we finally see the end of all that "Peak Oil" talk; and the Saudis keep giving their only resource away, what's not to like?

There is one interesting thing that comes out of this: if Saudi has the resources to keep giving oil away at $50/bbl, their fields are much bigger than many have suspected.

Having said that, it will be interesting to see this play out with regard to shale:

• unless we go to $20-oil, North American shale is not going to go away
• as long as there is shale oil production, the technology will improve, the sweet spots will grow
• the shale oil industry may modulate the boom and bust cycle that is common to the oil industry

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A Note to the Granddaughters

It's been quite a day.

For North Texas water polo, it was game day today, all day. Our older granddaughter's team had two games. We lost the first game to the undefeated team in the area by a score of 6  to 5. It was 6 to 6 for a moment, but the tying goal was "reversed" -- a foul was committed that negated the score. Our team won by a score of about 16 to 6 -- I didn't see the final score; I was just enjoying the game. It was interesting after the game to hear from our granddaughter the difference in the scoring -- she was very analytical about it.

Then the replay of the controversial play/call that cost the Dallas Cowboys the playoff game.

Then the Golden Globes.

And then at 10:03, apparently a 6-alarm fire "called in" from our apartment complex. I saw red strobe lights outside the blinds, went out to look: no less than six water and ladder trucks; one ambulance; and, one command and control vehicle. One truck's ladder was over the building across the way, but no flames, no definite smell of smoke/fire. And then after about 30 minutes, the firemen started packing up. A prank phone call bringing six or seven or eight vehicles. Maybe we will learn more tomorrow.

And, finally, most important, I completed Brenda James' Henry Neville and the Shakespeare Code. I will move on to something else now but will come back to this book at a later date. James mentions what she is working on next but it is not clear whether it will be an article for a journal or whether it will be a new book. I think the subject will be too esoteric for a new book.

Carroll Independent School District Aquatics Center

Venue For Game Day, Water Polo