The brave new world of ample oil

The shift from scarcity to abundance has been brought about in an astonishingly short time by America's "fracking" revolution, leading to massive benefits for consuming countries

In the oil universe, the September 14 attack on Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities is comparable to the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers in New York City. Yet, the taking out of half of the Kingdom’s oil output led not to an oil shock but a whimper. Barely two weeks after the brazen attack, oil headlines were once again dominated by fears of over-supply and falling prices amid a slowing global economy. Following an initial 20 per cent intra-day price surge after the attack, the benchmark Brent Crude oil price quickly retraced its steps back down to pre-attack levels.

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